BNDES announces R$ 500 million fund for startups

 

The BNDES plans to launch a public call in April to hire a fund manager to lend money to startups. The forecast is that the fund will have R$ 200 million, informed, on March 24, the director of the bank Eliane Lustosa.
 
"We are going to invest in high-risk, low-maturity companies with great potential for innovation," said the executive, after a seminar on startups promoted by the bank.
 
According to her, the bank's participation in the fund has not yet been defined. The idea is to search the market for other investors willing to invest resources. The bank will contribute at most half of the R$ 500 million earmarked for the fund.
 
Lustosa explained that the fund for startups will be of the "venture debt" type, that is, it will buy debt securities from early-stage innovation companies.
 
"The idea is not just to give capital, it is to monitor and surround yourself with guarantees that the resources go to those projects", she said. During the event, the BNDES director highlighted that there are difficulties for a public bank to finance this type of project, given the high mortality rate of startups in the country.
 
This Friday's event was the first in a series that the bank wants to promote to discuss ways to support Brazilian startups. Generally, support is provided through angel investors or accelerator companies.
 
Source: Folha de S. Paulo