Hogan Lovells advises NRW.BANK in connection with the signing of an InvestEU guarantee agreement with the European Union

Press releases | 03 February 2026

Global law firm Hogan Lovells has advised NRW.BANK on legal and tax issues relating to the signing of an InvestEU guarantee agreement with the European Union. NRW.BANK is the first "InvestEU Implementing Partner" in Germany to execute such an agreement with the European Union.

The guarantee agreement primarily serves to safeguard against default risks of a new virtual fund, "NRW.Venture EU Tech&Scale," through which NRW.BANK will in future invest up to 30 million Euros per financing in capital-intensive start-ups and so-called scale-ups. In total, up to 200 million Euros are expected to be made available for investments in young deep-tech and growth companies located in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

Scale-ups are rapidly growing, highly innovative companies that have moved beyond the start-up phase and are now in a growth stage requiring substantial capital resources. Both NRW.BANK and the European Union share the risks equally (pari-passu) and, at the same time, participate equally in potential proceeds, for example through a successful exit.

Hogan Lovells advised NRW.BANK on all matters relating to general civil law, banking regulatory, and tax law.

Hogan Lovells team for NRW.BANK

Dr. Jochen Seitz (Partner), Dr. Julian Fischer (Partner), André Melchert (Counsel) (all Capital Markets and Banking, Frankfurt);

Dr. Heiko Gemmel (Partner), Anne de Kiff (Counsel) (both Tax, Dusseldorf).

Press release NRW.BANK: NRW.BANK becomes first InvestEU Implementing Partner in Germany