Slovenia sees increase in EIB Group financing in 2025 with focus on transport upgrades, business growth and tech advances

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• IB Group financing in Slovenia increases to €366 million in 2025, 15% more than the previous year
• Main operations cover new road infrastructrure as well as credit boost for businesses and growth equity
• EIB Group support also extends to advisory services to spur range of Slovenian investment projects

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group provided €366 million in new financing to Slovenia in 2025, focusing on road upgrades, business growth and technological innovation.  

The 2025 total included €227 million from the EIB and €139 million from European Investment Fund (EIF), which focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Separately, the EIB channelled €6 million last year to Slovenia from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) – an EU economic-stimulus initiative established during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Key operations in Slovenia in 2025 included a €120 million EIB loan to national motorway company DARS to build a bypass near the southeastern city of Novo Mesto – a project that will improve traffic flow and road safety near the border with Croatia. The EIB also provided a €100 million guarantee to UniCredit Banka Slovenija to facilitate loans for mid-caps and their job‑creating business initiatives across the country.

“We are supporting projects of vital importance for Slovenia – from safer and greener transport to the increased competitiveness of local companies,” said EIB Vice-President Marek Mora. “Our activities ensure Slovenians have jobs, a higher quality of living and benefit from sustainable development of the Slovene economy.”

The EIB Group’s financing in Slovenia last year rose from €319 million in 2024. The latest annual results bring total financing by the EIB Group in the country to more than €1.4 billion over the past five years.

EIF initiatives

For its part, the EIF last year strengthened Slovenia’s innovation and SME ecosystem through a combination of equity and guarantees.

The cornerstone of EIF activity in Slovenia in 2025 remained the Slovene Growth Equity Investment Programme (SEGIP), which totals €220 million and is co‑funded with SID Banka. SEGIP supports growth equity, early‑stage ventures, technology transfer and succession financing.

SEGIP and other EIF-backed initiatives underpin the development of Slovenian companies such as Chipolo, which creates Bluetooth item trackers to help people locate misplaced items, and SharpEdge, which sells high-end Japanese kitchen knives to cooking enthusiasts.

Advisory support

The EIB Group’s activities in Slovenia last year also extended to advisory services. The EIB’s advisory unit helped national and local authorities prepare investment projects in areas such as sustainable flood risk management, climate adaptation, and sustainable transport and energy. The work strengthened institutional capacity in Slovenia and aligned future project pipelines with the country’s updated energy and climate priorities.

The EIB’s advisory services in 2025 also took on assignments to help Slovenia accelerate strategic investments and make better use of EU and EIB Group financing instruments.

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 savings 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 14 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 40 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1 billion in capital).