Can the WIN Initiative and the Future Financing Act II Strengthen Start-up Financing?
(Berlin – September 19, 2024) Today, the Working Group (WG) Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Jobs of the biotechnology industry association BIO Deutschland e. V. is meeting in Heidelberg with Franziska Brantner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), and Anna Christmann, Member of the Bundestag (both Bündnis 90/The Greens), for a political exchange. At the meeting, entrepreneurs from innovative biotechnology companies will present their business models and make recommendations for strengthening Germany as an internationally competitive biotech location. One topic is the availability of venture capital for start-ups and growth capital for advanced companies that need it on their way to becoming global champions. The “WIN” initiative of the German government, presented the day before yesterday at the “StartUp Summit 2024”, is intended to mobilize precisely this capital. A core element of the WIN initiative is the Future Financing Act II, which is designed to help improve the financing situation of companies; however, it still has significant gaps about closed venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds.
“The fact that the new WIN initiative of the federal government was presented on a large scale the day before yesterday with the participation of the leaders of the traffic light coalition shows that the federal government is increasingly interested in start-ups and the question of how they can be adequately supplied with venture and growth capital. This is a very big step forward,” says Claus Kremoser, co-head of the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Jobs working group. “We are pleased that Parliamentary State Secretary Franziska Brantner and Anna Christmann, Start-up Envoy of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, took the time to talk to us personally about what the WIN initiative means for the biotechnology industry and how it supports us. The availability of growth capital and functioning stock markets are essential for a flourishing biotech ecosystem and for high-tech start-ups in general. However, both are still underdeveloped in Germany and Europe. In the past, there have been some interesting initiatives from the federal government, but these have never been implemented consistently and purposefully. We hope that this time will be different and that, above all, the creation of incentives for the mobilization of private capital, especially from private pension provision, will be decisively advanced.
“This also applies to the recently published draft bill for the Second Future Financing Act,” said Holger Reithinger, co-head of BIO Deutschland's Finance and Taxation Working Group, who was also at the meeting in Heidelberg. ” We welcome the fact that the roll-over investment, which BIO Deutschland has been calling for since 2009, is now finally to be implemented. We see room for improvement in the tax treatment of venture capital (VC) companies. For closed-end VC or private equity (PE) funds that are not investment assets within the meaning of section 1 (1) of the German Investment Code, the unclear criteria for distinguishing between asset management and commercial activity will remain in place, thereby creating a competitive disadvantage. If we want to keep VC and PE companies in Germany or attract new ones, the planned changes to the Investment Tax Act should be extended to closed-end VC or PE funds. This is where the WIN initiative, i.e. the initiative of the German government, KfW, the financial sector and players from the start-up ecosystem for growth and innovation capital for Germany, could start.”
The Working Group on Finance and Taxation will evaluate and comment on the draft law to then support the further legislative process in the interests of innovative biotechnology companies.
At the beginning of the week, an alliance of business, associations, politics and KfW announced the WIN initiative for Germany as a financial center and to promote start-ups, innovation, and venture capital in Germany. A comprehensive package of measures was agreed to improve the framework conditions for growth and innovation capital in Germany. At the same time, the participating companies want to invest around twelve billion euros by 2030 in further strengthening the German venture capital ecosystem.
Download:
The text of this press release is available at www.biodeutschland.org/de/pressemitteilungen-uebersicht.html.
About BIO Deutschland:
BIO Deutschland e. V. is an independent biotechnology organization. The business association represents the interests of its members at national, European and global level. Biotechnology transfers biology into industrial application. It has already demonstrated visible benefits in medicine, for example. Innovative bio-based economic systems can enable Germany and Europe to achieve long-term sovereignty and prosperity. The association's network is interdisciplinary and unique. Its members conduct research, development, manufacturing and marketing on a global scale. BIO Deutschland is a strong association that relies on diversity, openness and equal opportunities and is committed to the free democratic basic order. Oliver Schacht, Ph. D., is chairman of the board of BIO Deutschland.
Further information is available at: www.biodeutschland.org
BIO Deutschland's supporting members and industry partners are:
AGC Biologics, Avia, Baker Tilly, Bayer, BioSpring, Boehringer Ingelheim, BüchnerBarella, Centogene, Citeline, CMS Hasche Sigle, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Evotec, KPMG, Lonza, Miltenyi Bi otec, MorphoSys, Novartis, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, QIAGEN, Rentschler Biopharma, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi Aventis Deutschland, Simmons & Simmons, Thermo Fisher Scientific, SpringerNature, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Vibalogics, ZETA.
Contact:
BIO Deutschland e. V.
Dr. Claudia Englbrecht
Schützenstraße 6a
10117 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 2332 164-32
Mobile: +49 151 14067326
E-Mail: englbrecht@biodeutschland.org