Interview: The “Growth Basket” Program for Start-ups — Unicorn of Financing

Welcome to the exciting world of RBI's “Growth Basket” program, which opens up undreamt-of possibilities for start-ups. In this interview, you will gain valuable insights from Joerg Bartussek, a recognized expert in this field. Get inspired by Bartussek's expertise, learn more about the opportunities and benefits the “Growth Basket” program holds for start-ups, and discover new horizons for entrepreneurial success.

Originally, the program was called “Digital Basket,” focused on start-ups in the digital sector, and was limited to €100 million. Now we turned industry agnostic and are looking at fast-growing companies across Europe. As a first step, we are focusing on healthcare, pharma, and new mobility. We have built up a lot of expertise on these industries at RBI, which is enormously important here. If we come across an interesting start-up from another sector, and we have the relevant expertise in-house, we will, of course, take a look at it. With the new basket, we can offer up to €15 million in financing, which is more than double the previous
offer. That's because we're not necessarily the place to go for small companies, but rather for fast-growing ones with annual sales in the double-digit millions. These are our key accounts of tomorrow, whom we want to serve already today.

We already managed to let only 15 working days pass between the first meeting and the disbursement, which is three weeks. These processes usually take months. Nobody has been able to reach our speed so far. To make this possible, we have to understand the companies extremely well so that we can make an accurate offer. We have a dedicated core team that guarantees this precision, and our excellent contacts in Risk and Compliance also help. This efficient approach results in a rating as a basis for interest rates which range from 6% to 12%. The result is a portfolio
containing some of the leading start-ups in Europe, without a loss.

They must already have a certain size, namely annual sales of €8 million and at least €6 million in equity since their founding. If start-ups have passed these thresholds, then they already weathered the initial storms in their corporate history and found a market for themselves. It is also important to note that we do not do SME financing with the “Growth Basket,” which is why we also look closely at the growth of the past years. We’re looking for a high growth rate, without overdoing it, though. The €6 million of equity show us if venture capital has already been invested — a great indicator of the stability of companies of this type. And finally, the due diligence process is tailored to the start-ups, and we apply quite conservative models here.

We stay in close contact with them to create real added value. For example, we cover some of the cash management agendas or give them access to platforms that they would not normally be able to use given their company size. The cooperation with Nuki, a company producing digital door locks that you can open with your cell phone, is particularly nice, for example. With RBI's large network in the real estate sector, we can give our major customers access to innovative solutions and the start-up access
to a new target group. Accordingly, growing companies come to us as soon as other financial products are involved.

Start-ups of this size rely heavily on VC funding. This can be expensive; when evaluating €100 million, to put it simply, you pay €1 million per percent raised. Therefore, growing companies are looking for alternative offers, such as “Growth Basket” financing. RBI is currently the only bank in Europe that offers a model of this size for start-ups. What we also notice is that valuations are not as “inflated” as they used to be a few years back. Companies are assessed in a much more realistic way, thus separating the wheat from the chaff. However, even good start-ups are now finding it more difficult, as lower valuations mean even higher dilution.