Press Release: State aid: Commission endorses EUR 4.4 million (£3 million) aid to innovative regional equity platform for SMEs in the UK’s West Midlands

The European Commission has endorsed under EC Treaty state aid rules aid of €4.4 million (£3 million) to Investbx, an innovative platform for raising capital for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the West Midlands, United Kingdom. Investbx will provide extensive information to investors and assist expanding SMEs to raise equity in the range between €0.7 and €2.9 million (£0.5 and £2 million), which the market currently fails to provide. This is the first case investigated using the in-depth economic assessment set out in the new Guidelines on State Aid to Promote Risk Capital Investments in SMEs (IP/06/1015).