• The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing up to €20 million in financing to Finnish virtual and mixed reality company Varjo.  
• The EIB financing falls under the venture debt window of the European Guarantee Fund, part of the €540 billion COVID-package agreed by EU Member States in spring 2020.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a quasi-equity agreement worth €20 million with Finnish metaverse technology company Varjo. The Helsinki-based, industry-leading developer of virtual and mixed reality software and hardware will use the financing to increase its investments in research and development for creating a reality-based metaverse of the future, as well as to capture the strong tailwinds following the coronavirus pandemic. The financing was made available under the European Guarantee Fund (EGF), a pan-European programme to help companies to grow amidst the global uncertainty caused by COVID-19. The EIB’s venture debt finance supports innovative growth companies with long-term financing and limited dilution.

EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros stated: “Varjo invests heavily in research and development, even at a globally difficult moment such as the current challenging times. The EGF’s venture debt programme gives the EIB the possibility to directly support innovative companies in strategically important sectors for the future of Europe. In supporting Varjo’s growth, we not only sustain and create jobs within a highly innovative industry, but we also put ourselves squarely behind European technological know-how.”

“Varjo is extremely proud to be a VR/XR company headquartered in Europe but operating globally, offering our customers around the world the most advanced immersive technology in the market,” added Timo Toikkanen, Varjo CEO. “As we scale and develop the next computing paradigm for human communication, we are pleased about the continued encouragement of the European tech ecosystem.”

Varjo delivers a unique VR/XR (virtual- and extended reality) hardware and software proposition which is cutting-edge in terms of making virtual experiences look and feel as real as the real world. Varjo provides the highest-resolution VR/XR in the market, and allows for mixing photorealistic virtual content with our physical reality for a true-to-life metaverse.

Background information:

In 2020, the EIB made in excess of €676 million in loans available for Finnish projects. The EIB borrows money on capital markets and lends it to projects that support EU objectives, with about 90% of all loans being granted within the European Union.

The European Guarantee Fund (EGF) was set up by the EIB Group with contributions from Finland and other EU Member States to shield companies suffering from the COVID-19 crisis. Using nearly €25 billion in guarantees, the EGF allows the EIB and the EIF to quickly make loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, equity and other financial instruments available to mostly small and medium-sized enterprises. The EGF is part of the European Union’s recovery package aiming to provide a total of €540 billion to boost those parts of the EU economy that have been hit the worst.

Varjo (pronounced var-yo) makes revolutionary VR/XR hardware and software that together allow you to see and experience virtual and augmented content just as clearly as you see the analogue world around us. Its virtual and mixed reality technology takes you to another level of performance and emotional immersion — recreating the exact feeling and conditions of real life, allowing you to perform better and learn faster.