The ‘Successful Fund’ programme, which aims to increase the number of cutting-edge technologies installed in the region, has an initial investment of €6m, of which €1.5m is provided by SRP, a Sekuens Group entity.
Asturias launches a public-private investment fund for the development and attraction of young innovative companies specialising in cutting-edge technologies. The Successful Fund programme has an initial capital of more than 6 million euros, of which 1.5 million will be provided by the Regional Promotion Society (SRP) of the Principality, an entity of the Sekuens Group.
The Regional Councillor for Science, Enterprise, Training and Employment, Borja Sánchez, participated today, Monday 14 October, in the presentation of the fund to representatives of companies in Asturias in an event organised by the SRP and the European Business and Innovation Centre (CEEI). The programme is managed by Successful Capital and SGEIC, both registered with the CNMV, and is aimed at both startups already established in Asturias and companies interested in establishing themselves in the region. The event was also attended by the executive director of the Sekuens Agency, David González.
The amount to be invested by the Fund (tickets) is in an initial range of between EUR 50,000 and EUR 200,000 per start-up, although the investment can reach up to EUR 500,000 per company in the follow-up phase. This strategy aims to provide the necessary funding at the earliest stages and to support the growth of start-ups.
The SRP, which belongs to the Sekuens Group, is a participant in the fund, which is included in the regional concertation, with an investment of 1,500,000 euros. This operation is part of the investment attraction strategy of the Principality, with the attraction of young innovative and disruptive companies, as the management company undertakes to invest in companies created in Asturias or that want to set up in the region, in an amount equivalent to at least 1.5 times the investment of the SRP in the Fund (i.e. a total of 2,250,000 euros). The objective is to support high-risk start-up business projects with a high innovative component.
The founder and leader of the project, Fran Piera, an expert in investment in technology start-ups in very early stages, has been in charge of presenting the initiative. Piera explained that the fund plans to reach an optimum size of 20 million and a maximum of 30 million, and an investment period of 2024-2027.
The beneficiary companies must have a series of characteristics:
- Pre-seed stage.
- Less than two years of existence.
- Valuation of no more than 5 million euros.
- That they use the most cutting-edge and differential technologies to achieve a competitive advantage over their competitors.
- From any sector but preferably in the field of SaaS B2B (software applications over the Internet between companies).
The selected startups will have to complete the Fund’s own incubation process, consisting of mentoring for three months, in a blended format, in the most relevant areas for their growth: project management, administration, accounting, taxation, market analysis, competition, etc.
The Councillor highlighted the importance of this type of fund, aimed at stimulating the installation in Asturias of highly technological and disruptive companies capable of growing quickly and generating wealth and employment.
Borja Sánchez also alluded to the good data on the creation of companies in Asturias. From January to August, 1,057 companies were set up in the region, which represents an increase of 14.64% compared to the same period in 2023, and the highest figure for the first months of the year since 2008.
The capital invested by new companies has also increased significantly. In the first eight months, 33.1 million were invested in the creation of new companies, 34.18% more than in the same period of 2023.
