Means of Private Investment of Small and Medium Innovation Entrepreneurship in the European Union

The authors of the article have analyzed certain economic characteristics of private investment of small and medium-sized innovative enterprises in the European Union (hereinafter — the EU). It has been noted that, unlike public funding from the EU Member States and Structural Funds investment, it is appropriate to pay attention to the investment mechanisms used in the private sector to support small and medium-sized innovative entrepreneurship in the EU, which has its own specificity and sources. The features of such sources as bank lending, corporate and venture investing, as well as financing provided by business angels have been studied. It has been noted that bank loans for innovative enterprises in the EU have become more accessible, but the collateral requirements imposed by banks remain high. The reasons for the low level of corporate investment of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (hereinafter — SMSEs) in some Member States are the lack of a developed culture of partial investment and the specificity of information exchange between companies and investors. The level of venture capital usage is low and, as a consequence, only a small number of SMSEs are attractive to venture capitalists’ investments. On the other hand, business angels are quite selective about investment objects. This determines their main activity at the stage of initial implementation of innovative projects. It has been concluded that a large proportion of SMEs face serious problems in accessing investment resources, and there are significant differences between countries, directly, in such areas as debt financing and, therefore, SMEs’ financing in Europe. is not homogeneous. Despite the large number of support instruments for investing such enterprises in the EU, successful implementation of initiatives does not occur in all countries and has a heterogeneous effect. In order to create a successful EU policy on supporting SMEs there is the need in more in-depth understanding of the problems and specificities of financing SMEs of the EU Member States.