Growth guarantee

Our Growth Guarantee improves access to bank financing for innovative and/or fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprises. It provides additional security when your business is considered able to repay a loan but lacks the collateral needed to secure bank financing. By guaranteeing 75 per cent of the bank’s losses on the loan, we enable banks to finance businesses at an earlier stage.
En person som ser på aksjeutvikling på en mobil
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Type of service
Financial guarantee
Target audience
Small and medium-sized enterprises
Application deadline
Ongoing
How much
Up to NOK 8 million

The Growth Guarantee is for innovative and/or fast-growing companies with up to 250 employees whose bank considers them able to repay a loan, but which lack sufficient collateral to secure the best possible financing terms. Your company must be registered and based in Norway.

If the bank can answer yes to the following questions, the customer may qualify for a financing solution that includes a Growth Guarantee:

  • Can the company service its debt?
  • Does your business lack sufficient collateral for the credit it needs?
  • Does your business meet one or more of the innovation and growth criteria?
  • Does your business, including any group companies, have 250 employees or fewer?
  • Do your company’s capital needs fall within the scheme’s funding scope, which covers tangible and intangible investments as well as operating and working capital?

Your business can receive up to NOK 8 million in bank lending, as one or more repayment loans and/or working capital credit facilities. You can use the lending for both investments and working capital. Our total guarantee liability is limited to 20 per cent of the total value of all loans the bank has had approved under the Growth Guarantee scheme.

The Growth Guarantee can help finance most of your company’s capital needs, including investments in tangible and intangible assets, working capital or a change of ownership.

The banks handle customer dialogue and credit assessments. The bank pays us the setup fee and the guarantee commission for the first year in advance on your company’s behalf.

  • Repayment loans have a term of up to 10 years. The term may be extended during the loan period, but the total term must not exceed 10 years.
  • Working capital credit facilities have a term of between one and four years. Before they expire, they can be converted into repayment loans, provided the total term does not exceed 10 years.

Here you can find the banks that have signed the agreement so far and offer financing under the Growth Guarantee scheme. We update the list regularly.

We encourage you to contact the banks’ advisors listed below. Please note that all discussions about the Growth Guarantee scheme take place directly between your business and the bank:

Danske Bank

DNB

Nordea

Rogaland Sparebank

SpareBank 1 Helgeland

SpareBank 1 Nordmøre

SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge

SpareBank 1 SMN

SpareBank 1 Sogn og Fjordane

SpareBank 1 Sør-Norge

SpareBank 1 Østfold Akershus

SpareBank 1 Østlandet

Sparebanken Møre

Sparebanken Norge


Process for using the Growth Guarantee

Once the bank has confirmed that the loan can be secured with a Growth Guarantee, the next steps are as follows:

  • The credit application is submitted and a decision made in line with the bank’s standard procedures.
  • The bank sends an offer to the customer, subject to a Growth Guarantee from us. The following form is enclosed with the offer:
  • The customer accepts the loan offer by signing it and returning it to the bank.
  • The bank registers the loan with us by entering the relevant details in the Growth Guarantee web portal.
  • You will receive an email from us asking you to complete a self-declaration in My page. Log in to My page, go to 'Online banking' and complete the form under 'Case processing'.
  • Within two working days, we check that the scheme’s conditions are met and notify the bank that the Growth Guarantee application has been approved.
  • The bank pays the setup fee and guarantee commission for the first year in advance on behalf of your business to our account no. 8200 01 43614. This payment makes the guarantee valid.

Pre-qualification with Innovation Norway

If your bank is unsure whether a customer qualifies for a Growth Guarantee, we recommend checking with us. This is particularly relevant when assessing group relationships and calculating company size.

How is the risk shared between us and the bank?

We guarantee 75% of any loss on the individual loan (loss guarantee), capped at 20% of the agreed loan portfolio with the bank. This means the bank retains 25% of the risk on each loan.

New loan number for a new credit facility?

If the bank has already used a Growth Guarantee for a customer but wants to provide additional lending secured by a Growth Guarantee, it must issue a new loan number for the additional lending.

Can the Growth Guarantee be used to refinance or repay existing credit facilities?

No. The Growth Guarantee is for new loans or credit facilities that represent a net increase in the bank’s lending to the customer concerned. If you are unsure about refinancing, get in touch.

Arrangement fee and guarantee commission

The arrangement fee is 1% of the maximum guarantee liability in the first year.

The annual guarantee fee is 0.75% of the guaranteed amount.

For the guarantee to be valid, the bank must pay us the arrangement fee and the first year's guarantee commission within 14 days of making the loan available to the business. The guarantee declaration specifies the commission and our account number. The guarantee/loan must be drawn down within five months of the guarantee being issued. Otherwise, our obligation under the guarantee will lapse.

Changing banks

You cannot transfer an existing financial guarantee to a new bank (switch banks), even if the new bank also participates in the scheme. This applies only to financial guarantees approved after 2024. For financial guarantees approved in 2024 or earlier, you can still switch banks.

Standard terms and conditions with appendices

Standard terms and conditions no. 2

Appendix 1: Criteria – innovation and digitalisation

Appendix 2: Exclusion criteria

Annex 3: Restricted sectors

Annex 4: InvestEU excluded activities

Appendix 5: Borrower's declaration in connection with the Growth Guarantee

Appendix 6: Requirements for the content of the lender’s disbursement request

Interpretation of EIF restrictions on activities, sectors and jurisdictions

Excluded jurisdictions

Previous standard terms and conditions with appendices

2020

2018

2017

Our contacts

For pre-qualification of potential borrowers and other enquiries about the scheme, email vekstgaranti@innovasjonnorge.no, or contact the following people:

Standard terms and conditions with appendices

Standard terms and conditions no. 2

Appendix 1: Criteria – innovation and digitalisation

Annex 2: Exclusion criteria

Annex 3: Restricted sectors

Annex 4: InvestEU excluded activities

Appendix 5: Borrower’s declaration relating to the Growth Guarantee

Appendix 6: Requirements for the content of the lender’s disbursement request

Interpretation of EIF restrictions on activities, sectors and jurisdictions

Excluded jurisdictions

Key requirements for funding

To receive services from us, your business must uphold the principles of responsible business conduct and understand its own sustainability risks. Read more about sustainability and responsible business conduct.

State aid rules

Our funding must comply with State aid rules. Five general conditions for State aid must be met.

The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) forms part of the State aid rules. It contains a set of articles that provide the legal basis for us to support businesses in different circumstances. One or more articles may apply in each case. Read more about GBER.

Legal basis for the scheme

Our funding schemes have been notified to the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA). The legal basis for these notifications is available on the National Legal Basis page.

Other public funding

You must state in your application whether you have applied or plan to apply for other public funding for the project. We also base the amount of funding we award on an overall assessment of how much public funding is needed for the project to go ahead.

When determining the grant amount, we therefore assume that you will receive no public funding, including SkatteFUNN, other than that stated in your application. This applies to funding for the project costs on which we have based our grant calculation (eligible costs). If you receive other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, for the same costs after we have made our offer, we may reduce our grant accordingly or withdraw it.

This does not prevent your business from receiving other public support for project costs other than those used to calculate our grant.