Funding & Investment Advisory
Choosing a programme is not the first step. It is the fourth. Before it come the commercial objective, a mature investment plan and a hard eligibility check. Reverse that order and you get applications that fit the programme but not the business.
BC&T does not fill in grant applications. It structures investments, then finds the right way to fund them — through equity, bank debt, national and European support, or a combination. And it stays with the project through to final payment.
Common challenges
What we take on
The route
The most common mistake is starting at stage five. An application drafted before the investment plan has matured costs time twice over.
The commercial objective that justifies the investment.
What can actually be supported, for which entity, and at what aid intensity.
Budget, revenue, costs, returns and scenarios.
The mix of equity, debt and grant support, and the order in which to move.
A complete file, evidenced costs, submitted inside the window.
Responses to evaluator queries, supplementary evidence, decision of approval.
Managing suppliers, spend and amendments within the terms of the decision.
Audits, payment claims, certification and formal close-out.
Financing instruments
The principal national investment-incentive instrument. It addresses substantial investments with physical scope — buildings, equipment, productive capacity — and calls for complete investment documentation and demonstrable financial capacity.
Hotel properties, manufacturing, logistics and larger productive investments.
The co-funded framework through which most business-support actions are launched. Programmes are thematic and rotate, which is why a funding strategy cannot rest on a single call.
SMEs across retail, services, food service, manufacturing and tourism.
Funds investments with an emphasis on digital and green transformation, competitiveness and scale. It includes both grant and favourably priced loan components.
Digital and energy transformation investments, export orientation and consolidation.
Actions designed by each Region, often targeted at that area’s smart-specialisation (RIS3) priorities. For businesses in the Ionian Islands they are among the most underused instruments available.
Local businesses, partnerships with research organisations, sector priorities.
Tax and other incentives that work alongside direct grants. They are frequently overlooked, although in some cases they deliver more value than a subsidy would.
Investments where a tax allowance is worth more than an up-front grant.
European mechanisms that operate through guarantees, financial instruments and partnerships, often alongside bank lending rather than as a direct grant.
Investments needing working capital, guarantees or a composite funding structure.
The instrument through which projects of public bodies and local authorities are funded, with different requirements for documentation, project maturity and audit than private-sector programmes.
Municipalities, regional bodies, public organisations and public–private cooperation.
Common questions
When four things exist: a clearly defined scope, an evidenced budget backed by quotations or credible estimates, a financial model showing how the investment is serviced, and demonstrable capacity to cover the private contribution. If one of those is missing the file can still be submitted, but its chances drop sharply.
The Development Law is a permanent national incentive regime aimed at larger investments with substantial physical scope and stricter documentation requirements. ESPA actions are thematic, launched periodically, and typically address smaller investments on faster cycles. The choice is not a matter of preference: it follows from size, sector, location and timing.
Yes. There are actions aimed specifically at newly established and start-up businesses, and the Development Law accepts new entities. The difference is that without historical financials the burden of proof shifts onto the business plan, the track record of the people behind it and evidence of financial capacity.
Aid intensity is not uniform. It is set by the Regional Aid Map, the size of the company, the sector, the type of cost and the specific regime. In practice the decisive question is not the percentage but what is left over: how the private contribution is covered and how the investment is financed until the grant is actually paid.
Preparing a mature file usually takes weeks rather than days — and only if quotations, permits and financials already exist. Evaluation and the approval decision depend on the authority and the programme. Delivery runs from a few months to several years depending on scale. The most common cause of failure is starting the preparation too late.
The difficult part begins. Costs must be incurred in line with the terms of the decision, evidenced correctly and submitted for verification. Any change to the scope requires an approved amendment. Losses of eligible budget almost always occur at this stage, not at evaluation.
What the client gets
Related industries
New properties, modernisation and energy upgrades — from feasibility through to final drawdown.
Productive investments with real technology content, argued as both a business case and a funding case.
Growth, funding and structure for businesses where the owner is also the decision-maker.
Partnerships with research organisations, value chains and networks, where the funding case covers a consortium rather than one firm.
Support for public bodies on investment programmes, local development and project delivery.
Tell us briefly what you intend to do. We will come back with what is realistically fundable and what the next move should be.