SES S.A. announced the signature of a letter of commitment with the Luxembourg Government and six other partners to finance ICT start-ups.
The initiative taken by the Ministry of the Economy in the context of « Digital Lëtzebuerg » seeks to set up an ecosystem that fully adapts to the needs of start-ups within the ICT sector, while offering an adequate framework for the creation and development of young and innovative companies - an ecosystem that adapts to the needs of ICT start-ups, in particular in terms of financing such companies in the early stages of development.
The signing parties agreed to collect public and private funds worth EUR 19.2 million to create a seed fund-type structure designed to finance innovative technology companies within the ICT sector.
Above all but not exclusively, the fund will create risk capital investments within projects that have reached “proof of concept” in the domains of cybersecurity, FinTech, Big Data, Digital Health, Internet of Things and satellite telecommunications, for example. In order to facilitate transferring new technologies stemming from public research and, in particular, from the Luxembourg University Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT), the seed fund’s objective also lies in investing in promising spin-offs in order to maximize the national economic benefits.
The future ICT seed fund has been developed in the context of a Public Private Partnership, involving renowned participants from the world of finance and economics. The capital fund will be operational as of the beginning of 2016 and managed by a specialised team that has the necessary skills to best identify and select innovative business projects showing a strong development potential in Luxembourg.
