Growth guarantee

The Growth Guarantee gives innovative and/or fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprises better access to bank financing. It provides additional security when your business can service a loan but cannot provide the collateral required 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.
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Type of service
Financial guarantee
Target group
Small and medium-sized enterprises
Application deadline
Ongoing
How much
Up to NOK 8 million

The Growth Guarantee is designed for innovative and/or fast-growing companies with up to 250 employees that their bank considers able to service a loan but that lack sufficient collateral to secure suitable financing. The borrower must be registered and based in Norway.

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

  • Does the company have the capacity to service the loan?
  • Does your company lack sufficient collateral for its current credit needs?
  • Does your company meet one or more innovation and growth criteria?
  • Does your company, including any group companies, have 250 employees or fewer?
  • Does your company's capital requirement fall within the scheme's funding purpose, which covers tangible and intangible investments, as well as operating and working capital?

Each company can receive bank loans of up to NOK 8 million, provided as one or more instalment loans and/or lines of credit. You can use the loan for both investments and working capital. Our total financial guarantee liability is limited to 20 per cent of the total value of all loans approved for the bank under the Growth Guarantee scheme.

The Growth Guarantee can finance most of your company's capital needs, including physical and intangible investments, working capital and changes of ownership.

The banks handle customer communication and credit assessments. The bank pays the establishment fee and financial guarantee commission for the first year to us in advance on behalf of your company.

  • The repayment period for amortising loans is up to 10 years. We may extend the repayment period during the loan term, provided the total repayment period does not exceed 10 years.
  • Operating credit facilities have a maximum term of four years and a minimum term of one year. Before they expire, you can convert them 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 bank advisers listed below. Please note that all communication about the Growth Guarantee takes place directly between your company 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 relevant financing can be secured with a Growth Guarantee, the process is as follows:

  • You submit the credit application, and the bank assesses it in line with its standard procedures.
  • The bank sends you an offer, subject to a Growth Guarantee from us. The offer includes the following form:
  • You accept the loan offer by signing it and returning it to the bank.
  • The bank registers the loan with us by entering the relevant information in the Growth Guarantee web portal.
  • You will receive an email from us asking you to complete the self-declaration form on My Page. Log in to My Page, go to 'Online banking' and complete the form under 'Case management'.
  • Within two working days, we check that you meet the scheme's criteria and inform the bank that we have approved the growth guarantee application.
  • The bank must pay the establishment fee and guarantee commission for the first year in advance on behalf of your company into our account, number 8200 01 43614. This payment activates the guarantee.

Pre-qualification with us

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

How is the risk shared between us and the bank?

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

New loan number for a new facility?

If the bank has already used a Growth Guarantee for a customer and wants to extend its lending commitment using a Growth Guarantee as security, it must issue a new loan number for the new commitment.

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

No. The Growth Guarantee is for new loans or credit facilities that represent a net increase in the bank's exposure to the customer in question. If you are unsure whether refinancing is eligible, get in touch.

Arrangement fee and guarantee commission

The establishment fee is 1% of the maximum guarantee liability for the first year.

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

For the financial guarantee to remain valid, the bank must pay us the establishment fee and the first year's commission no later than 14 days after the loan has been made available to the company. The commission and our account number are stated in the guarantee declaration. The financial guarantee or loan must be drawn down no later than five months after the financial guarantee was issued. Otherwise, our guarantee obligation will lapse.

Changing banks

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

Standard terms and conditions with appendices

Standard terms and conditions no. 2

Appendix 1: Criteria – innovation and digitalisation

Appendix 2: Exclusionary situations

Appendix 3: Restricted sectors

Appendix 4: Activities excluded from InvestEU

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

Appendix 6: Content requirements for the lender's disbursement request

Interpretation of the EIF's restrictions on activities, sectors and jurisdictions

Excluded jurisdictions

Previous standard terms and conditions with appendices

2020

2018

2017

Our contact persons

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

Standard terms and conditions with appendices

Standard terms and conditions no. 2

Appendix 1: Criteria – innovation and digitalisation

Appendix 2: Exclusionary situations

Appendix 3: Restricted sectors

Appendix 4: Activities excluded from InvestEU

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

Appendix 6: Requirements for the content of the lender's payment request

Interpretation of the EIF's restrictions on activities, industries and jurisdictions

Excluded jurisdictions

Key eligibility criteria for funding

To access our services, your company must uphold the principles of responsible business conduct and actively manage its sustainability risks. Read more about sustainability and responsible business conduct.

State aid rules

Our funding must comply with state aid rules. You must meet five general conditions for state aid.

The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) is part of the state aid rules. It contains provisions that allow us to provide support to businesses in a range of circumstances. We may apply one or more provisions to each case. Read more about GBER.

Legal basis for the scheme

We have notified the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) of our funding schemes. 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 intend to apply for other public funding for the project. We also determine the level of our funding based 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 not receive any other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, beyond what you have stated in the application. This applies to funding for the project costs we used to calculate our grant (eligible costs). If you nevertheless receive other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, after we have made our offer and it covers the same costs, we may reduce our grant accordingly or withdraw it entirely.

This does not prevent your company from receiving other public funding for project costs other than those on which we have based our assessment.