Bootstrap Europe
A venture debt fund lending roughly £850k to £13m to venture-backed technology and life sciences scale-ups across Europe, backed by British Business Investments and the European Investment Fund.
What they do
Bootstrap Europe lends to companies that have a product, proven sales and venture backing, sizing facilities on recurring revenue and run rate rather than on earnings. Its third fund of €130m draws on British Business Investments, the European Investment Fund, KfW and the Visa Foundation. The team lends across the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and the Nordics, and has funded across an unusually wide sector range for a venture lender, from biotechnology and cleantech to cybersecurity, food technology and e-commerce.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
The low end of the range is what distinguishes this fund: sub-£1m facilities are available where most institutional venture lenders start at several million, which suits a smaller scale-up or a first debt facility taken alongside a Series A. The team is explicit about looking at sectors other venture lenders find unfamiliar, which matters for deep technology and hardware businesses.
Where they are not the fit
Venture equity co-investment is expected, so a company without it is outside the normal mandate. Pre-product and pre-revenue companies are not funded, and neither are profitable non-technology businesses or search-fund style acquisitions. Warrants and a high single-digit to low double-digit coupon are the market convention here, and this fund does not publish its terms.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not publicly disclosed; market context for European venture debt is 8-15% annually; warrant kicker of 0.5-0.9% equity coverage on top
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- VC-backed companies only; corporate or private equity-backed without VC co-investment is non-standard; not a typical LMM sponsor-backed lender
- Where they lend
- UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Nordics; 14 jurisdictions historically; no England-and-Wales-only restriction; London office present
- How they decide
- An investment committee-led; described as curiosity-driven and open to unfamiliar sectors; co-founders have cross-border M&A and leveraged-transaction backgrounds
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed August 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from Bootstrap Europe’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- VC-backed equity co-investment required; no VC backing = non-standard
- EBITDA-positive or non-growth-stage companies outside normal mandate
- No product-risk-stage companies; must have product, proven sales, seeking growth capital
- ETA/searcher deals not on mandate
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £13m; 27 of the 46 private-credit funds here go at least as high.
- It opens lower than almost all of them, at £850k.
- 15 of the 46 publish an indicative price at all; it is one of them.
Counted across the 46 private-credit & direct-lending funds in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Bootstrap Europe write?
Published facilities run £850k to £13m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Bootstrap Europe lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Bootstrap Europe publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Where does Bootstrap Europe lend?
UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Nordics; 14 jurisdictions historically; no England-and-Wales-only restriction; London office present.
What does Bootstrap Europe lend?
The published product set is venture debt / growth debt. Published sector focus is biotech, cleantech, cybersecurity, deeptech, ecommerce.
On the record
2023: Fund III final close at EUR 130m, backed by BBI, EIF, Visa Foundation, KfW.
October 2025: Dexory (UK AI/robotics logistics), USD 65m conventional debt round as part of £ 165m Series C led by Eurazeo Growth.
2025: Animaj (independent content for young audiences), first-time investment.
Sources: bootstrapeurope.com
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.