European Investment Fund and LABORAL Kutxa mobilise 150 million euros to support micro enterprises and social entrepreneurs in Spain

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• The European Investment Fund (EIF) and LABORAL Kutxa have signed a guarantee agreement to mobilise 150 million euros for microloans and social loans.
• The guarantee is backed by the InvestEU program.
• This is the second guarantee agreement signed by the EIF and LABORAL Kutxa under InvestEU to support the social economy and micro‑enterprises in Spain.

The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group), and LABORAL Kutxa have signed a new guarantee agreement that will allow the credit cooperative of MONDRAGON to allocate up to 150 million euros to microloans and social loans. The agreement is backed by the InvestEU program.

Thanks to the EIF guarantee, LABORAL Kutxa will provide new financing on favourable terms to more than 7,000 micro‑enterprises and social enterprises. The agreement, framed within the InvestEU Social Investment and Skills program, also aims to promote job creation and consolidation within this highly dynamic sector of the economy. The agreement will enable LABORAL Kutxa to grant loans of up to 2 million euros to social enterprises and microloans of up to 50,000 euros.

This new guarantee agreement is the second that the EIF and LABORAL Kutxa have signed under InvestEU following the one announced in 2023. It increases the supply of microloans and social loans and strengthens the long‑term relationship between both entities in supporting small entrepreneurs and social enterprises.

Background information

EIB Group   

The European Investment Bank (EIB) 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 in new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects under 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 investments union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructure, 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 EIB Group completed financing and investment operations in Spain totaling around €11 billion last year, which came alongside an additional €2.9 billion under the Regional Resilience Fund (NextGenerationEU loans).

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-sized businesses and startups across Europe. Acting as an anchor investor, through its extensive network of partnering banks and investment funds, the EIF mobilises 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. To date, this initiative has already enabled the creation of 15 European venture capital mega-funds and scaled up 43 companies, including 11 unicorns (with more than €1 billion in capital). 

Photos of the EIB Group’s representatives and headquarters, logo files and video B-roll for media use are available here.  

InvestEU 

The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps crowd in private investment for the European Union’s strategic priorities such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. InvestEU brings all EU financial instruments previously available for supporting investments within the European Union together under one roof, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is deployed through implementing partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment. 

LABORAL Kutxa

LABORAL Kutxa is a credit cooperative with more than 65 years of history that carries out its financial activity by providing products and services to over 1,100,000 families and businesses. Its branch network consists of 285 service points located in the main population centers across the northern half of the country.

LABORAL Kutxa’s business model is based on wage solidarity and the participation of its workers, who are also the owners of the institution. Figures as of December 31, 2025, reflect a balanced balance sheet, with a total business volume exceeding 50 billion euros, 33.913 billion in intermediated funds, and 16.101 billion in credit investment. LABORAL Kutxa also stands out for its high level of solvency, with a Core Capital (Tier 1) ratio of 26.22%, and a consolidated net profit of 305 million euros at the close of the 2025 financial year.

More information available at www.laboralkutxa.com