2023年4月21日

风险债务日益被企业想要在经济衰退期间增长4分钟读2022年风险债务快速增长在欧洲,与现金短缺的公司吞并债务融资纪录€305亿,比前一年的两倍,根据GP Bullhound。与股权融资匮乏,这一趋势将持续到2023年。大得多,新基金正在提高以满足这种需求。引导欧洲,瑞士风险债务公司,是最新的,刚刚关闭了第三€130支持基金可持续性创业。已经支持10家公司的基金,包括没有问题,这使得可降解包装、交付和米娜疗法,开发药物来恢复正常功能患者的细胞用于癌症治疗。预计总共35。广告是非常热衷于SaaS,气候技术有兴趣,基因检测,fintech和生命科学。其投资者包括先前的支持者(BBI),英国商业投资的投资机构英国商业银行和欧洲投资基金(EIF)和新支持者签证基金会,美国支付巨头签证的慈善机构。引导欧洲€130基金引导欧洲通常给贷款€1两市之间的三到四年。它借给系列创业公司,除了在欧洲,尤其是在达奇地区,法国和英国。 70% of the sustainability companies it looks at are SaaS, and the rest are hardware. The loans include a warrant, which gives the fund the option to acquire shares of 0.5-0.9% in the company in a future exit event. Not all companies that want to raise venture debt will be able to, however, as they have to be “in good shape” to access this kind of financing, says Heller. Even in the US, where venture debt is more prominent, only 10% of companies can access it, she adds. Sifted Newsletters Join to Sign Up Bootstrap Europe only loans to companies that are out of the “product risk stage” — “they already have a product, they know how to sell it, and they want to increase the fuel in their engine," explains cofounder and managing partner Fatou Diagne — and that are likely to be funded by VCs. The fund does rounds irrespective of whether an equity round is happening at the same time. And since VCs are more picky these days, Bootstrap Europe has to “apply the same level of selection”, adds Diagne. What are companies using venture debt for? Since debt, unlike equity, doesn't involve giving away a stake in the company, startups use debt financing for different things that they would use VC money for. A lot of companies are approaching Bootstrap Europe to finance mergers and acquisitions — “they want to acquire smaller competitors at a lower valuation, as valuations are coming down, as a way of growing in the current market,” explains Stephanie Heller, cofounder and managing partner of Bootstrap Europe. Others that want to gain market share want to ensure they have “at least three to six months on the balance sheet” to pump into marketing to continue acquiring customers throughout the crisis, adds Heller. Advertisement A gap in the market One of Europe’s largest venture debt lenders in recent years has been Silicon Valley Bank, through its UK branch, SVB UK. But since the bank's collapse and its UK arm’s merger with HSBC, some founders say they are looking to branch out and work with other debt lenders. Heller says that SVB UK’s purchase has also opened up an opportunity for more entrepreneurial lenders. Sifted has reported that SVB UK is lending as usual. Bootstrap Europe says its approach as a lender is light touch in that it doesn’t take board seats. But it does step in to help startups — as a VC would — if things aren’t going well. It also dissuades startups that approach it from raising venture debt if the companies are using it as “desperate recourse”, says Diagne, adding that venture debt should always be used as a “tool” rather than something to be totally relied upon. “In today’s world, because companies are starving for any sort of financing, is it good to take a line of venture debt to solve that issue? If it’s not to finance growth, the answer is no, because it just adds more issues,” says Heller. She adds: “If a company has three to four months of cash, it’s not a good idea to come and add (debt) to that — it only makes things harder for [the startup]. It’s important for founders not to use the tool without understanding what it means in terms of reimbursement.” Advertisement