Amortisation-free years
Years at the start of a loan when you pay interest but no principal. Business Finland R&D loans include three to five of them.
Why it matters
Repayments start only when the project should already be generating revenue.
Years at the start of a loan when you pay interest but no principal. Business Finland R&D loans include three to five of them.
Repayments start only when the project should already be generating revenue.
A loan a bank gives your foreign customer to pay for your delivery, with Finnvera guaranteeing the bank's risk.
It lets you offer payment terms without carrying the credit risk yourself, which is often what closes an export deal.
Conditions attached to a loan, such as a minimum equity ratio or a maximum debt-to-EBITDA, that the company must keep to for the whole term. Breaching one can make the loan repayable immediately.
Read them before signing, because a covenant breach in a bad year can turn a manageable loan into an acute crisis.
You hand your sent invoices to a finance company, which pays you most of their value right away and collects the payment from your customer later.
It shortens the wait for money, at a cost. It works best with reliable business customers and a steady flow of invoices.
TyEL is the statutory pension insurance every employer in Finland pays for employees. Part of the contributions paid over the years can be borrowed back from the pension company as a loan.
A financing source many companies have without knowing it.
An agreement that lets the bank account balance go below zero, up to an agreed limit. You pay a fee for the limit and interest only on the amount in use.
A common first instrument for bridging gaps and seasonal variation in the cash cycle.
You sell machinery you own to a finance company and immediately lease it back. The machine stays in use, and the capital tied to it becomes available.
It releases capital tied to equipment without interrupting its use.
Money tied up in running the business, such as inventory, receivables and wages, as opposed to investments. Grants rarely fund it, but guarantees and loans can.
If the need is working capital, look at Finnvera's guarantees rather than grant programmes.
Financing that sits between bank debt and equity. It is repaid after other lenders if things go wrong, so it costs more, but it strengthens the financing structure without diluting ownership.
Banks often count it toward the owners' stake, which can unlock a bigger senior loan.