07/01/2021 (Agence Europe) – The first company to sign an investment agreement with the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund is the French company CorWave, which is developing a medical solution for patients with life-threatening heart failure, the European Commission announced on Thursday 7 January. This fund, created in June 2020, aims to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments - i.e. blended with grants - in the capital of start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These investments, ranging from 500,000 to 15 million euros per beneficiary, are intended to fill the financing gap faced by some innovative companies, the Commission explains. In addition to CorWave, which will receive 15 million euros, 41 other companies have been selected to benefit from the first direct equity investments (178 million euros in total) made through the EIC Fund. (AC)