HOW DOES THE JEREMIE PROGRAM AFFECT THE HUNGARIAN VENTURE CAPITAL MARKET?

In the 2007-2013 EU's budgetary period a new program was introduced for SMEs. JEREMIE - Joint European Resources for Micro to medium Enterprises - offers to EU Member States and regions the possibility to invest some of their EU structural funds allocations in revolving funds and so recycle financial resources in order to enhance and accelerate investments in enterprises. The market for venture capital and private equity is relatively small in Central and Eastern Europe, but has matured during the past decade and yields are better than in Western Europe. In 2009 Hungary got the first notification for the venture capital part of the JEREMIE program, and started to organize the channel to distribute this renewable source for Hungarian start-up and innovative (from micro to medium) enterprises. 2010 was the first year of the “JEREMIE venture capital funds” in Hungary. There are no tangible results yet, but a snapshot could be taken about how this program affects the Hungarian venture capital market