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50 committed LIOF colleagues help your company grow with advice, a solid network and financing, to strive for a smarter, more durable and healthy Limburg.

Development Fund for SMEs

The Development Fund of the Limburg Business Development Fund (LBDF) provides convertible loans to develop a feasible idea into a fully-fledged business concept including a business plan. The loan amount varies between €50,000 and €250,000 per application.

Financing your business concept

We provide financing for the process from idea to business concept for companies that meet the EU definition for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In the past period we have stimulated and supported many ideas, also financially. As a result, the LBDF budget has been exhausted. Please contact us so we can discuss possible alternatives.

Another requirement is that your company is actually located in Limburg (physically and actively present), and operates in one of the spearhead sectors in Limburg:

Agri-food
Logistics
High-tech Systems
Chemicals / Materials
Smart services
Life Sciences
Crossovers between these sectors

Which companies preceded you? View our portfolio.

What does the loan entail?

Our conditions are clear

The amount of the loan can vary from €50,000 to €250,000 per application at the following rates market-based interest - depending on the risk profile and the security (EU Communication 2008/C 14/02.). We expect you to pay off the loan within 1 to 6 years. More information about the rules are given in the Investment Regulations.

What is the loan intended for?

You can use the loan for:

A product or service
A business/entrepreneur
A business plan
Intellectual property.

How do I apply for such a loan?

The procedure from start to finish

If you are eligible for a loan from the Proof of Concept Fund, you can download the application form. Complete your application and submit it by e-mail. Do you have any questions or would you like some help? If so, feel free to contact an LIOF advisor.

Next steps

Testing and assessment

We check whether your application is complete and fits within the scheme. You complete the loan application together with the LIOF advisor. We then assess your application for:

Innovation / innovative capacity
Technical feasibility
Market potential
Economic feasibility
Entrepreneurship
Financial feasibility.

Allocation and turnaround time

Has your plan been approved? If so, we submit the application to an external expert committee (the credit committee). They will issue an opinion. The LIOF makes a final assessment of the application, based in part on this advice. If the decision goes your way, we prepare a loan agreement.

The processing time from application to the loan being issued depends on how quickly you can submit the application and complete it together with LIOF.