The European Investment Bank (EIB) has launched a program to evaluate the use of external credit ratings as a tool to broaden financing options for innovative startups and scaleups across Europe. The advisory initiative is aimed at companies that receive backing through EIB venture debt instruments and that the bank regards as important to Europes competitiveness and strategic autonomy.
The pilot's inaugural agreement was signed with INBONIS Rating, a Spanish credit rating agency that focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises. The trial will last 18 months and is being conducted under the mandate of the InvestEU Advisory Hub, the European Unions investment advisory and support platform which is managed jointly by the European Commission and the EIB.
Under the terms of the pilot, INBONIS will carry out independent credit assessments and issue private credit ratings for companies selected by the EIB. These companies will span multiple sectors and will include recipients of support from the CleanTechEU guarantee mechanism.
The core question the pilot seeks to answer is whether credit ratings produced by an External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) that is registered with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and recognised by the European Banking Authority (EBA) can aid intermediary banks when assessing risk. The program will also assess whether such ratings improve comparability between fast-growing firms and whether they can speed up access to working capital facilities and conventional bank financing.
The initiative is designed to address a persistent structural issue: many European startups and scaleups reach advanced stages of technological and commercial development yet still find it difficult to obtain traditional bank loans. The problem is particularly acute for companies that lack a track record of borrowing or an established external credit assessment, which can leave them disadvantaged when seeking bank financing.
By producing private credit ratings for EIB-selected companies, the pilot will evaluate whether an independent external assessment can bridge the informational gap that often separates innovation-focused financing and conventional bank lending. The program will observe whether intermediary banks treat such ratings as a meaningful input to their internal risk assessment processes and whether that leads to faster or broader access to working capital and loan products for eligible firms.
The EIB and the InvestEU Advisory Hub will use the 18-month pilot period to monitor outcomes and determine whether the model can be scaled or adapted to other beneficiaries of EIB support. The initiative explicitly focuses on companies that the EIB considers important to the EUs strategic economic objectives.