New COL 2.0 conditions announced; additional €200 million made available
On 20 May, the government announced that it would set aside an additional €150 million for the Corona Bridging Loan (COL). A week later, the budget was increased by another €50 million and the application period was extended until 1 October. In order to be able to help as many entrepreneurs as possible with the available budget, the possibilities for adjusting the conditions were examined. Formal agreement concerning the design of the COL 2.0 was received today from Brussels.
Adjusted assessment procedure; applications accepted until 1 October
Applications which were submitted by 19 May will be assessed in accordance with the conditions applying since the COL's introduction in late April. Applications submitted between 20 May and 1 October will be weighed against each other (tendering system). The mutual weighing of the applications will take place in three time blocks: 20 May – 1 July, 1 July – 16 August and 16 August – 1 October. In addition to the formal criteria, qualitative criteria such as the number of FTEs, alignment with the mission-driven innovation policy, alignment with eco-systems and the importance of innovation will also be considered.
For the mutual weighing processes to be carried out between 1 July and 1 October, an amount of at least €50 million will still be available. The results of the various tendering processes will be announced within three weeks after the corresponding time period. The adjusted assessment procedure is illustrated in the appendix to this news report.
In contrast to the COL 1.0, third parties will be permitted to act as co-financiers in situations in which the existing shareholders cannot act as co-financier, or there are as yet no external shareholders.
Since introduction of COL over €600 million requested
Since the launch of the COL on 29 April, nearly 1800 companies have submitted an application. In total, they requested more than €600 million in loans; the average amount requested was almost €360,000. By now, nearly 1300 applications have been processed and approximately 500 requests have been granted. Nearly 500 applications are still pending.
Per the government's request, the regional development corporations will grant these bridging loans under favourable conditions. These loans range between €50,000 and €2 million.
About COL
The Coronavirus Bridging Loan (COL) is an emergency loan for innovative entrepreneurs and SMEs who do not have a bank loan facility and are facing financial difficulties as a result of Covid19. This facility was developed as part of an intensive collaboration between the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK), the joint Regional Development Corporations (ROMs) and TechLeap.nl, and with the close involvement of Invest-NL. At the request of the EZK, the ROMs are providing bridging loans of between €50,000 and €2 million.
More information can be found at:
- https://www.rom-nederland.nl/en/corona-bridging-loan/
- https://www.techleap.nl/content/bridgefinancing-portal/
Attachments
Dashboard 29 April – 1 July 2020 (in Dutch)
Infographic assessment procedure COL 2.0 (in Dutch)
Any questions?
Please check the website in case you have any questions: https://www.rom-nederland.nl/en/corona-bridging-loan/