Financing your SME's development

Business property grants are the largest family in the catalogue for this stage. They are mostly run by municipalities and intermunicipal authorities, sometimes alongside the region, and often target a type of activity (industry, crafts, town-centre retail, tourist accommodation) or a zone (town centre, business park, brownfield site).

Their amount depends on each local authority's regulations and EU state aid rules: you therefore need to start from the project's location. The 'Local and regional' filter in the catalogue below, followed by the personalised report, lets you keep only the grants relevant to the area concerned.

Regions finance productive investment through grants and, increasingly, through zero-interest loans. In Brittany, the PASS Investissement lends at zero interest from €60,000 to €100,000 when the Region acts alone, and up to €120,000 with an intermunicipal authority, for an investment programme of more than €200,000 creating at least three jobs. In Île-de-France, the Prêt Croissance TPE finances €10,000 to €50,000 per year over 5 years, with a one-year grace period.

In municipalities classified as SME investment aid zones, the local authority can also exempt companies that start or expand an activity from the property-based business tax (cotisation foncière), for a period it sets.

Intermunicipal authorities and regions finance digital transformation (websites, software, cybersecurity) and the energy renovation of premises: Le Mans Métropole, for example, offers up to €100,000 excl. VAT in grants or €150,000 excl. VAT in loans for the energy renovation of small businesses and SMEs.

Regional pension and occupational health insurance funds (Carsat) also subsidise small businesses' prevention investments: up to €25,000 per company to make machinery safer, in the case of Carsat Centre-Ouest.