AXIS Participaciones Empresariales

What AXIS Participaciones Empresariales does

AXIS Participaciones Empresariales is a Spanish venture capital entity (sociedad de capital riesgo) founded in 1986 and headquartered in Madrid. It is wholly owned (100%) by Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), Spain's official state credit institute, and operates as the venture capital and fund-of-funds arm through which ICO channels public and private capital into the Spanish economy. Its functional role is public-private collaboration in the venture capital sector, executing two investment lines: direct investment in Spanish companies and projects, and indirect investment through private VC funds that in turn invest in portfolio companies.

The company's core product is a portfolio of four Fond-ICO investment funds with combined capacity of up to €12,150 million: Fond-ICO Next Tech (digital innovation and scale-ups, including the European Tech Champions initiative), Fond-ICO Global (creation of private VC funds investing in Spanish companies at all stages), Fond-ICO Crecimiento (long-term financing for SME expansion, launched in 2024 as a fully digital direct tool), and Fond-ICO Sostenibilidad e Infraestructuras (transportation, energy, social, and services infrastructure). Distribution operates through ICO's institutional network and the four funds, with AXIS itself running a lean operating model of 1-10 employees.

The revenue model rests on fund management economics within the ICO Group. AXIS does not report standalone revenue; its value is generated through management fees, carried interest, and capital appreciation on managed AUM, while reported financing throughput (€10,265 million approved in 2025; €12,960 million mobilized by ICO in 2023) is consolidated at the parent level. Customers are Spanish SMEs, startups, scale-ups, and VC fund managers seeking anchor capital, particularly those aligned with public policy priorities in digitalization, growth financing, and green/dual transition.

Name

AXIS Participaciones Empresariales

Legal name

AXIS Participaciones Empresariales

Website

http://www.axispart.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

AXIS Participaciones Empresariales is the wholly state-owned venture capital arm of Spain's ICO, managing four Fond-ICO funds (up to €12.15 billion) that provide direct and fund-of-funds investment to Spanish startups, SMEs, and growth companies across digital, sustainability, and infrastructure verticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Madrid

HQ country

Spain

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Fund Management and Investment Returns: AXIS generates value through managing four Fond-ICO funds totaling up to 12,150 million euros. Their revenue model is based on fund management fees and investment returns from their portfolio of direct investments in companies and indirect investments through venture capital funds.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

AXIS Participaciones Empresariales is a Spanish venture capital company (sociedad de capital riesgo) and 100%-owned subsidiary of ICO (Instituto de Crédito Oficial) that manages four Fond-ICO investment funds (Next Tech, Global, Crecimiento, and Sostenibilidad e Infraestructuras) totaling up to €12,150 million. The company provides two investment lines: direct investment in Spanish companies and projects, and indirect investment through private venture capital funds that in turn invest in companies.

Product overview

AXIS Participaciones Empresariales is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO) that operates as a venture capital company managing four distinct investment funds. The portfolio consists of Fond-ICO Next Tech (focused on digital innovation and scale-ups), Fond-ICO Global (promoting private venture capital for Spanish companies at all development stages), Fond-ICO Crecimiento (supporting company expansion with long-term financing), and Fond-ICO Sostenibilidad e Infraestructuras (targeting transportation, energy, social, and services infrastructure projects). The company manages up to 12,150 million euros across these four funds, offering both direct investments in companies/projects and indirect investments through funds that in turn invest in companies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fond-ICO Next Tech: Fund to promote the development of innovative digital projects of high impact and investment in growing companies (scale-ups)
• Fond-ICO Global
• Fond-ICO Crecimiento
• Fond-ICO Sostenibilidad e Infraestructuras

Products and services

• Fond-ICO Next Tech A venture capital fund that aims to foster the development of innovative digital projects of high impact and investment in growth companies (scale-ups). Targeted at Spanish technology and digital innovation companies.
• Fond-ICO Global A fund that promotes the creation of private venture capital funds that invest in Spanish companies at all stages of development. Operates as a fund-of-funds vehicle channeling public-private capital into the Spanish VC ecosystem.
• Fond-ICO Crecimiento A fund that supports companies in their expansion plans, providing financing and long-term vision for businesses. Focused on growth-stage Spanish SMEs.
• Fond-ICO Sostenibilidad e Infraestructuras A fund focused on participation in transportation, energy, social, and services infrastructure projects. Targeted at sustainable infrastructure investments in Spain.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10,265 million euros in business financing approved in 2025

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• European Investment Fund (EIF): The EIF is the EU's fund-of-funds vehicle, investing in VC and PE funds across Europe. It shares AXIS's core model of backing private VC funds to deploy capital into SMEs and scale-ups, but operates at pan-European scale rather than a single country.
• CDP Venture Capital: CDP Venture Capital is the venture capital arm of Italy's state development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, operating a multi-fund platform investing in Italian VC funds and direct deals. Closely mirrors AXIS's mandate of building the national VC ecosystem using public capital.
• Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment): Tesi is Finland's state-owned investment company investing in VC and growth funds, including fund-of-funds mandates. Comparable in state-owned fund-of-funds structure and mission of building national VC capacity.

Broad incumbents

• Bpifrance: Bpifrance is France's public investment bank, operating a broad platform spanning direct VC, PE, fund-of-funds, guarantees, and SME lending. Comparable in state-ownership and capital scale, but with a wider product set than AXIS's pure fund-of-funds mandate.
• KfW Capital: KfW Capital is the German federal fund-of-funds investor, a subsidiary of KfW Group, providing anchor capital to German and European VC funds. Operates the same core model as AXIS but with deeper German VC market depth.
• European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund: The EIC Fund is the EU's direct equity investor in deep-tech and high-impact startups, complementing the EIF's fund-of-funds approach. Represents a competing EU-level capital pool targeting Spanish and other European scale-ups.

Regional players

• ENISA: ENISA is a Spanish public entity providing participative loans to SMEs and startups. It is a complementary Spanish public financing vehicle with overlapping SME-focused mandate but uses debt rather than VC equity.
• Institut Català de Finances (ICF): ICF is Catalonia's public financial institution offering VC, lending, and guarantees to Catalan companies. Operates a similar public capital deployment role but at a regional rather than national level.

Others

• CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial): CDTI is a Spanish public entity under the Ministry of Science and Innovation financing R&D and innovation projects. It is an adjacent Spanish public financing institution, though focused on grants and loans for technology development rather than VC equity.
• Mubadala Investment Company: Mubadala is Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth investor with a substantial global VC and PE portfolio. While operating at much larger scale and across geographies, it represents a comparable sovereign-backed investment platform deploying public capital into private funds and direct deals.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/ICOgob
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCHQdY4gnqB1btmdUfnkwdqw
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/axis-participaciones-empresariales-sgeic-sa-sme

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments19 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about AXIS Participaciones Empresariales