In May 2013, the aid program  „INVEST – Zuschuss für Wagniskapital“ was implemented by the Federal Ministry of Economy and Energy (BMWi) with the aim to mobilize more private venture capital of private investors in Germany. INVEST promotes investments of private investors in young, innovative companies. The promoted investors receive a tax-free grant in the amount of 20% of the investment sum they brought in a young company. In addition to the aims above-mentioned INVEST should also be conducive to win over more people with  an entrepreneurial  orientation to risky investments in young companies and to motivate already active private investors to make further venture capital investments. The ZEW was commissioned by the BMWi to evaluate this aid program. Cooperation partner of the ZEW is the VDI Technology Center in Dusseldorf. In principle the evaluation project pursues two ambitions:

1. Empirical findings on the effectiveness of the program on the market for venture capital for young companies in Germany should be acquired. Thereby the effects from the private investors are of interest, as well as the effects, that can be achieved in young companies.
2. Indicators to estimate the efficiency of performance of the program will be acquired. Thereby the program design and the achievement of the program objectives will be considered as well as the implementation and organization of the program.

Summeries of the project report are available here:German Short VersionEnglish Short Version