A total of EUR 3.16m will be distributed through subsidies, convertible loans and public investments, and another EUR 3.6m will be available to start-ups in areas with high unemployment and wood industry start-ups.

The Slovenian Enterprise Fund has invested EUR 45m into innovative start-ups in the last ten years, which was accompanied by another EUR 30m in private capital invested in the same businesses.

For the first time, the fund now also invites private investors to enter 90 companies that have managed to conclude their initial development phases with support from the fund.

In 2016, start-ups founded by Slovenians managed to get US$ 95m or EUR 90m of investments at home and abroad, according to data collected by start-up support community Silicon Gardens.

This is less than the EUR 131.7m in the record year 2015, but more than the EUR 67.3m in 2014. Andraž Tori of content technology company Zemanta said this trend meant it was realistic to expect the amount to be around EUR 100m in the future.

The most successful start-ups with Slovenian founders in fundraising in 2016 were Urban Mining Company (US$ 25m), Layer (US$ 15m) and Iconomi (US$ 10.6m).

Most investments in Slovenian-founded start-ups came from venture capital funds, followed by crowdfunding platforms. Six start-ups joined foreign business incubators or accelerators.

According to Tori, the Slovenian start-up ecosystem is getting more an more lively, both in its public and its private part.

Although it is facing challenges regarding the legal framework and taxation, Tori is optimistic.

"The more this ecosystem is developed, the more ambitious young people we will be able to keep in Slovenia, or at least somewhere on a bridge between Slovenia and abroad," Tori pointed out.