Croatia gets €536 million in EIB Group financing in 2025 with focus on small businesses, venture capital and cities

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• EIB financing in Croatia in 2025 focuses on business growth, green and digital projects and urban upgrades including Žnjan beach in city of Split
• EIF operations ease access to finance for small enterprises and innovators
• Support extends to advisory services including for housing in Zagreb, Split, Osijek, Rijeka and Varaždin

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group’s new financing in Croatia totalled €536 million last year on the back of support for technological advances by a range of Croation businesses. More than half of the 2025 amount was for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Mid-Caps and public entities to pursue green and digital projects.    

The financing last year included €325 million from the EIB and €211 million from the European Investment Fund (EIF), which focuses on SMEs. Separately the EIB channelled €11 million in 2025 to Croatia from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) – an EU economic-stimulus initiative established during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Top operations in Croatia last year included a €22 million loan for development projects in Split including social infrastructure and upgrades of the popular Žnjanbeach, and EIB loans to the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) (€150 million) and Privredna Bank Zagreb (PBZ) (€50 million) as well as a guarantee of €100 million to Erste & Steiermärkische Bank to bolster the competitiveness and reduce the carbon footprint of SMEs, Mid-Caps and public entities.

“Croatia is a great example of how close cooperation between the EIB Group and the public and private sectors can transform European priorities into concrete local benefits,” said EIB Vice‑President Teresa Czerwińska. “From Dalmatia to Slavonia, we continue to reinforce our position as a partner Croatia can rely on as it creates better opportunities for citizens and their businesses.”

The latest annual results bring total EIB Group financing in Croatia to €3.2 billion over the past five years. The 2025 amount was equivalent to 0.5% of Croatia’s gross domestic product (GDP).

“The European Investment Bank is one of Croatia’s most important financial partners in advancing green, digital and development projects. The €547 million of EIB Group financing in 2025 highlights the strength of our partnership and its tangible impact on Croatia’s economy.,” said Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tomislav Ćorić. “These investments support business growth, innovation, green transition and help deliver modern infrastructure and better services for citizens.”

In the area of green transport, the EIB last year helped finance an expansion of charging stations for electric cars in Croatia as well as five other Central and Eastern European Member States by lending €35 million to an EV network operator called Eleport. About €3 million of the total credit are for charging stations in Croatia.

EIF initiatives

For its part, the EIF in 2025 expanded its presence in Croatia by offering guarantees to financial intermediaries and investing in venture capital and growth funds. The focus was on innovation, infrastructure, technology transfer and social impact.

 For example, the EIF last year consolidated its role as a leading financier of innovative SMEs and startups by acting as the anchor investor in NVision Ventures, a Croatian venture capital fund. NVision Ventures is part of a programme – the Croatian Venture Capital Initiative 2 (CVCi2) – to strengthen Croatia’s innovation and startup ecosystem and became CVCi2’s third fund, contributing to the expansion of early‑stage and scale‑up financing in the domestic market.  

The EIF strengthened its support for Croatian businesses by backing Croatia’s participation in the 3SI Innovation Fund. Croatia takes part in this regional initiative through HBOR, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Croatian SMEs and mid-caps already benefit from this membership, as it gives them access to financing from PCP SEE Fund II, which is also backed by the EIF.

In another example, the EIF provided a total of more than €138 million via longstanding Croatian intermediaries to expand sources of financing for SMEs and Mid-Caps pursuing projects related to innovation, the green transition and energy upgrades. This financing included €85 million for Zagrebačka banka, €33.4 million for Erste and €20 million for Hrvatska Poštanska Banka (HPB).

The EIF also supported Croatian companies through the Invera Private Equity Fund II, which provides equity financing to help businesses grow, consolidate and expand internationally. Together, these investments underline the EIF’s key role in providing risk capital to Croatian SMEs and in supporting private sector growth in the country.

Advisory assistance

The EIB Group’s activities in Croatia in 2025 extended to advisory services including to five major cities – Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Osijek and Varaždin – to develop modern social and affordable housing for young families and young professionals as well as for vulnerable and low‑income residents.

To reinforce Croatia`s capacity for strategic planning in urban development, the EIB last year also provided advisory assistance to HBOR to strengthen its ability to support small and medium sized cities in the country.

In addition, the EIB Group provided advisory support in key Croatian sectors such as clean transport, waste management, sustainable finance and fintech.

Background information

EIB Group   

The European Investment Bank (ElB) Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100 billion of new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the avings and investment union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructures, the EIB Group crowds-in private investment for high-risk innovative projects and businesses, with a growing role in Europe’s markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisations. 

The European Investment Fund (EIF) is the subsidiary of the EIB Group specialised in providing guarantees and equity to improve access to finance for small and medium size businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilizes private investment and nurtures the ecosystem of venture capital funds to support innovative European entrepreneurs. 

In 2023, the EIF together with six member states (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands) launched the European Tech Champions Initiative, a fund of funds to scale-up innovative startups. This initiative has already enabled the creation of 13 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 38 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1 billion in capital).