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A fund dedicated to SME innovative in the digital technology
Investing in the digital technology - 01 June 2011
A €400Mn investment fund for innovative SME, FSN SME, was launched on 1 June within the framework of a presentation of the Fonds national pour la société numérique (National Fund for the digital society - FSN) organized by Caisse des Dépôts.
At this event where Eric Besson, the Minister for Industry, Energy and the Digital Economy, René Ricol, Commissioner General for investment and Augustin de Romanet, Caisse des Dépôts CEO and Chairman spoke, the FCPR (venture capital mutual fund - “fonds commun de placement à risque”) FSN PME was launched in the presence of more than 300 project initiators.
Provided with €400mn, it will be managed by CDC Entreprises. It will make direct investments of up to 30% in equity, restricted to €10mn, in the share capital of innovative SME in the digital sector (cloud computing, digitalisation of content, nanoelectronics, embedded software, e-health, network security, intelligent transport systems, digital towns and e-education) to assist them in the development projects.
FSN PME deals with a widespread problem in the digital domain. Many startups cannot finance their growth and increase their equity to expand. It fills a vacuum between financings of creations and start-ups and the investments of major institutional investors. The digital economy currently represents more than 1,150,000 direct and indirect jobs, mostly in SME.
“By the end of the year, I would like more than 30 innovative projects to be examined by this FCPR for SME. This intervention of the Government must allow the Internet champions of the future to emerge in France”, Eric Besson said.
“For 10 years, Caisse des Dépôts has committed itself to the development of the digital economy by assistance to the deployment of the broadband infrastructures, support for the development of innovative services, development of the related uses to reduce the digital divide and contribute to growth”, Augustin de Romanet added.
The Fonds national pour la société numérique (FSN) (National Fund for the Digital Society)
The Government has made the digital sector one of the 5 areas of its Programme for investments for the future.
Within this programme, €4.25bn are devoted to the development of the digital economy through the FSN. The fund is managed by the specialised investment teams of Caisse des Dépôts, which act in the name and on behalf of the Government.
FSN’s objective is to support, over a ten-year period, the development of the digital economy by the mobilisation of resources without precedent intended for companies and research and development bodies :
- €2bn are devoted to the development of high speed networks
- €2.25bn are devoted to support for innovative digital uses, services and content, of which €1.4bn in traditional financing of innovative projects (venture capital, development capital and loans) and €850mn to support research and development projects in the form of subsidies or repayable advances.
