Our vast Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region has a number of levers at its disposal to help with the development of all kinds of economic players.
It manages European funds such as the ESF (European Social Fund) and the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), giving rise to a number of regularly updated instruments.
For more information: www.auvergnerhonealpes.fr . economie@auvergnerhonealpes.fr . tél : 04 73 31 85 85
Agence Rhône Alpes Entreprises
The purpose of the Ambition éco site is to offer funding solutions to companies and business creators. The solutions funded by the region are implemented by the Auvergne Rhône Alpes Entreprises Agency.
For more information: ambitioneco.auvergnerhonealpes.fr
FRI – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Investment Fund
The FRI is a fund with several tens of millions of euros from both the public sector (Region, BPI France, CCI, etc.) and private subscribers (banks, credit unions, insurance companies, trade federations, industrialists and so forth). It participates in a company’s capital as a minority investor and by investing jointly with other financial partners: share subscription (through capital increase) and/or convertibles and reclassification of securities.
For companies undergoing expansion, redeployment (surmountable short-term economic difficulties) or transfer. Companies in every sector and with a priority on industry and services to industry.
Conditions: be located in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Turnover of between €1m and 100m; workforce of more than 10 employees.
Contacts : Xavier CHAPPELON, Président du directoire . tél. 04 72 83 23 04
Sébastien BAILLY, membre du Directoire . tél. 04 72 83 13 98 . jecreedansmaregion.fr
Funding for R&D projects related to sustainable development: energy, climate change, quality of air, circular economy, bio-based materials and chemicals, waste, fight against food waste… in connection with national and regional calls for projects.
Contact : Annick DESGOUTTES, coordinatrice de Pôle . tél : 04 73 31 52 88 . www.ademe.fr
This association helps project promoters who do not have access to bank loans. It mainly provides support for people in vulnerable situations (job seekers, people receiving minimum welfare benefits, etc.).
Adie offers:
– Microloans (up to €10,000) to fund all sorts of needs (vehicle, stock, equipment, cashflow, etc.) required when setting up a business.
– Guidance and follow-up for entrepreneurs.
– Dedicated facilities (customer area, webconferences).
– Micro-insurance geared to the business activity (public liability, comprehensive business, car insurance).
Contact : Solène LABIAULE .tél : 09 69 32 81 10 . www.adie.org
Auvergne Business Angels, a member of France Angels, is an association of local private investors who provide money, time, expertise and connections.
The businesses supported must be located in Auvergne and show strong growth potential. They can be in startup, expansion or takeover phase.
They can benefit from:
– Capital needed to launch the business (several tens of thousands of euros).
– Advice from experienced entrepreneurs.
– Greater credibility among financial partners (leverage for raising funds).
– Follow-up over several years.
Contact : Eric BORIAS, Président . tél : 06 80 31 73 63 www.auvergnebusinessangels.com
BPI France assists in meeting the ambitions of the Regional Strategy for Economic Development, Innovation and Internationalisation (SRDEII) worked out by the Region in order to become one of the five leading regions in Europe.
Some examples :
– Le Prêt Croissance TPE-PME Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (VSE-SME Growth Loan)
– Le Prêt Industrie du Futur – Croissance (Industry of the Future – Growth Loan)
– Venture capital loan with the EIF (European Investment Fund)
– Support for innovation development
– Prêt d’avenir (Future Loan)
– Bourse French Tech (French Tech grant)
– Crowdfunding
– Equipment – Finance leasing
– Guarantees
– For international expansion (international growth loan, short-term financing solutions, export insurance, export credit)
Contact garanties : Bernard MICHOUX tél. : 04 73 34 49 90 .
Contact entreprises du Puy-de-Dôme : Nathalie BERTIN Tel : 04 73 34 49 90 et Yoann CHOUVET Tel : 04 73 34 49 90 www.bpifrance.fr
The Puy-de-Dôme Chamber of Commerce and Industry manages the Fonds Mutualisé de Revitalisation (FMR – Shared Revitalization Fund). This fund helps to support companies that create jobs with their development projects. The fund is provided for by part of the revitalization agreements signed in the département when redundancy plans occur.
Contact : Julie Rudio Tel. 04 73 43 43 21
The regional Chamber of Trades & Crafts, Banque Populaire and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council offer an interest-free loan, without a personal guarantee or administration fee, of between €3,000 and €20,000, which has to be supplemented by a classic bank loan. The interest-free loan concerns the creation, takeover and development of a company (equipment, intangible assets, commercial, processes, working capital requirements linked to the investment).
Contact : Tel. 04 73 31 52 00
Clermont Auvergne Métropole has set up a metropolitan scheme of support for local activities:
– Contribution equivalent to between 10% and 20% of the material investment spending made when installing or growing the business activity
– Challenge: to assist in revitalizing town centers, neighborhoods targeted as a priority by local authority policies and areas corresponding to the protection zones of local shops and trades.
Contact : Corinne GLEYZE, développeur économique . Tel : 04 43 76 24 31
This Directorate can grant tax exemptions for certain categories of companies. To take advantage of this you must apply directly to the Service des Impôts des Entreprises (SIE – Business Tax Service) whose contact details depend on where the company is located.
Contact : SIE de Clermont Ferrand Nord . tel : 04 73 43 20 65 ou 20 00
SIE de Clermont-Ferrand Sud Ouest . tel : 04 73 43 21 04
SIE de Clermont-Ferrand Sud Est : . tel : 04 73 43 20 05
France Active Auvergne is a member of the nationwide France Active network made up of 130 information centers. In 2017, the France Active Auvergne local network supported 479 businesses and 3,237 jobs by investing 5 million euros.
This network helps to increase access to bank loans in the context of creating or taking over a company that is already in progress. Thanks to its “Entrepreneurs engagés” (Committed Entrepreneurs) scheme, France Active Auvergne takes action in various ways:
– Loan guarantees
– Incentives (for young people, women and committed companies)
– Advice on financial strategy
– Networking with economic and financial players
France Active Auvergne is supported by Clermont Auvergne Métropole.
Initiative Clermont Métropole, backed by Clermont Auvergne Métropole, supports project promoters who want to create, takeover or expand a company through “prêts d’honneur” (unsecured, interest-free loans) in every business sector (except farms) and irrespective of the legal status, provided that a supplementary bank loan is applied for at the same time. For expansion projects, the company must have been in existence for at least six years and post positive equity.
– Personal interest-free loan
– To consolidate equity in order to facilitate access to a classic bank loan
– Up to €25,000
– Term: 3 to 4 years
– Its advantages: interest-free loan; without a guarantee; possibility of deferring repayment (3 to 6 months)
Initiative Clermont Métropole provides support:
– for putting your application for funding together so as to increase your chances before the approval committee made up of company managers, bankers, chartered accountants and specialists in business creation/takeover.
– and then throughout the period of repaying a loan (visits to the company, producing indicators, sponsoring with the help of a volunteer – company director or experienced executive, support for joining the local economic network and so forth).
Contact : Daniel FARGES Tel : +33 (0)4 73 28 72 60 www.initiative-clermont-agglo.com
On condition of being within a certain geographical boundary, creating jobs and making material investments.
Enables project promoters and heads of VSEs and SME/SMIs to benefit from the experience of a leading industrial group, from the expertise of its employees in a variety of areas and from its network overseas and to gain access to certain project funding arrangements.
Michelin Développement not only offers financial support but also networking and the use of in-house specialists. Those eligible are companies in the industrial sector or services to industry aiming to create at least 5 jobs within 3 years and making material investments.
Contact Michelin Développement : Stéphane SERVANTIE Tel : 04 73 32 61 62 . www.michelin.fr
Réseau Entreprendre, supported by Clermont Auvergne Métropole, is a network of company managers who give of their time on a voluntary basis to promote the success of high potential business creators and buyers.
The local network, Réseau Entreprendre Auvergne, enables any project promoter, with good potential, in the Clermont Métropole, to benefit from the following support:
– Financial in the form of a “prêt d’honneur” (amounting to 15,000 – 50,000 euros).
– Individual from a company manager.
– Collective, based on discussions between entrepreneurs from the same “cohort”.
To take advantage of this support, the person creating or taking over the business has to submit their project according to a pre-selection process before presenting it to a selection committee. Contact : Marika QUESADA Tel : 04 73 92 85 11 www.reseau-entreprendre.org
This private equity group is a wealth management company linked to subscribers such as private banks and public organizations. Approved by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (French Financial Markets Authority) since 1999, the holding company SOFIMAC IM manages several hundreds of millions of euros and plays a part in the various maturity stages of companies, including the critical phases, covering a wide variety of business sectors, via its two subsidiaries: SOFIMAC Innovation and SOFIMAC Régions.
With headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, and set up since 1977 in the center of France (Lyon, Limoges, Orléans), SOFIMAC is a local partner (on average the company and SOFIMAC meet up once every three months).
Contact : Jean-Pierre BOUILLER, fonction Directeur des Participations Fonds de retournement . Tel : 04 73 74 57 57 www.sofimacpartners.fr
SOFIMAC Innovation
A team of professionals and entrepreneurs whose expertise is well known in the fields of life sciences, digital technology and eco-technologies.
They step in at every stage of a company’s development, involving sums of between €500K and €3m, with a preference for ambitious projects of global scale, calling on breakthrough technologies and experienced managers.
Perfect Memory, one of the success stories in Clermont Auvergne Métropole was supported by SOFIMAC Innovation.
SOFIMAC Régions
– Jeremie Innovation 2
– Jeremie Cap PME 2
– Jeremie Financement 2
A mutual funding company, managed by manufacturers in the metallurgy sector under the aegis of trade association Udimec, SOMUDIMEC supports companies from their startup through to their transfer by means of various debt or equity financing instruments:
– medium- and long-term loan,
– solutions for cash flow: equipment and real estate leasing, factoring,
– insurance policies: receivables management, death and disability, key person and machine breakdown.
SOMUDIMEC can take action in every industry or services to industry company (mechanical engineering, agrifood, plastics, wood, transport, etc.).
Contact : Edouard BUGUET, chargé d’affaires Tel : 06 29 92 13 94 www.somudimec.fr
A crowdfunding campaign is part of the company’s communication strategy and business approach. It is therefore necessary to prepare this fundraising campaign really well; this may take the project promoter time, but help with this initiative is generally on hand from the funding platform.
To persuade members of the public who are increasingly called on to help step this way.
How to choose your platform
Several factors can come into play when people make their choice: in particular the closeness of your project to where they live, values they defend (the ecology among others).
A few examples of crowdfunding platforms: Kiss kiss bank bank, Ulule, Mimosa, Kocoriko, Lita.co, Les Cigales, Wedogood