Interview with Óscar Ugarte, Managing Director of Seed Capital Bizkaia
One of the main commitments acquired by the Provincial Council of Biscay is to promote the business sector and the development of innovation in order to consolidate a solid economic environment, which creates employment and wealth for the whole society.
For that, it is essential to support in financial terms and in management issues the first steps of the newly created companies, and also the development of projects in existing ones. The Provincial Council of Biscay has several entities intended to promote business activity, among them the venture capital company Seed Capital Bizkaia.
In an economic situation like the current one, obtaining financing is one of the biggest problems faced by companies, especially for SME’s, both when starting their activity and when developing new projects.
In this context, the option of venture capital is one of the best alternatives to receive keys and get access to financial instruments. This enables a better future for SME’s in general and more specifically for innovative projects, for projects in phase of internationalization, for social projects and for micro-SME’s located in the historic territory of Biscay.
New regulation
Furthermore, the new regulation of venture capital companies established by Law 22/2014, of November 12, which replaces that of 2005, improves the adaptation of these entities to the needs of entrepreneurs. The new law provides, among others, the following news of special interest to the entrepreneur:
- It makes the financial regime of venture capital entities more flexible, allowing a wider range of financial instruments for investment.
- It creates the concept of the SME Venture Capital Entities, which allows these companies to invest 70% of their assets in SME’s, take part in their management and carry out advisory work.
- It extends the scope of the law to all closed-ended collective investment entities, with predefined contributions and distribution of returns among investors.
- It significantly reduces the administrative intervention regime of the National Stock Market Commission on venture capital entities and closed-ended collective investment entities.
Venture capital management companies are involved in the future of their companies. The Provincial Council of Biscay promotes this type of investments in SME’s through the company Seed Capital Bizkaia.
Seed Capital Bizkaia understands that these legislative changes provide greater opportunities to help strengthen the business fabric.
Under them, this venture capital management company has articulated new financial instruments to support entrepreneurship. Thus, the goal is to provide management structure of companies with the economic flexibility necessary to respond to current needs and, also, to overcome any problem that might arise. Ultimately, and with the conviction that this is important for all of us, we must ensure the success of these entrepreneurial initiatives.
