Companies planning to invest in Baden-Württemberg can choose from a host of investment incentives. Aside from low-interest loans and grants, these include financial guarantees and equity capital. A number of institutions offers investment grants in Baden-Württemberg. They work closely together and have linked their development programs. The individual institutions have specialized in different areas. As the state development bank, the L-Bank is responsible for support programs that involve the debt financing of newly founded businesses and business transfers, among other things. As a risk partner of “co-lending banks,” it also supports financing programs for small and medium-sized enterprises together with Bürgschaftsbank Baden-Württemberg. The Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg (MGB) complements these debt financing offers with equity capital in the shape of silent participations. As a refinancing partner, the federal financing agency Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) supplements the state’s development support programs. These activities cover all main investment plans of new investors, such as new business foundations, company takeovers or active stakeholdings. The following table provides an overview of the types of investment plans and the relevant support programs. The choice of program is made in accordance with the individual financing requirement and the scope of the available support.

L-Bank offers the standardized program Gründungs- und Wachstumsfinanzierung (GuW, or Business Startup and Growth Financing Program) for potential investors looking for medium- to long-term outside financing as well as the specialized support instruments Entwicklungsprogramm Ländlicher Raum (ELR, or Rural Development Program) and regional and technology support programs. The L-Bank’s Liquidity Assistance Program is a flexible tool for the financing of company takeovers for investors looking for short- to medium-term debt capital. Equity-type funds, so-called mezzanine financing, are available as an alternative or a supplement to debt financing. Two financing instruments in this category are the silent participations of the MBG and mezzanine financing from the KfW’s ERP capital for business startups.

Applications for all debt financing programs as well as KfW’s ERP venture capital program are made through the so-called “co-lending bank procedure”. Here, the applicant does not approach the support institution directly, but goes through a bank or savings bank with which the investor is already working. The co-lending bank handles the application process, concludes the necessary contracts and ensures that investment grants are paid out. The application for a silent participation may be made either through the co-lending bank or directly at MBG.