The expert report prepared for the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs dated January 31, 2025, regarding INVEST funding for mezzanine financing and non-exit-oriented companies, as well as the market standard for investment agreements, is available for download here.

Work package 1 outlines all risk-relevant provisions within a financing round and uses statistical analysis to evaluate whether they remain within the scope of market standards or reduce investment risk in a way that is detrimental to funding eligibility. This applies to both equity financing and convertible loans, which have been eligible for INVEST funding since 2017.

Work package 2 examined whether the provision of mezzanine capital should also be eligible for INVEST funding in the future. This involved outlining potential mezzanine financing instruments and their structural options, as well as assessing the need for such funding among potential investors and eligible companies; compensation components, their upper and lower limits, and their interdependencies were also defined. Based on this, template agreements for three typical forms of mezzanine financing (subordinated loans, silent partnerships, and profit-participation rights) were provided as annexes. As doubts remained regarding the suitability and incentive effect of INVEST funding for such financing on the investor side, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs decided not to open the INVEST program to mezzanine capital.