The funding suffices for about 40 companies, which will also be eligible for mentoring and training, Mateja Grobelnik of the Slovenian Enterprise Fund told the Forum 100% Startup on Monday.

The open call will be published on 16 March and the funding decisions will be announced until the end of May. The companies will get the funds in three instalments over three years.

A total of 556 innovative companies have so far been financed with this instrument, over 87% of which have survived and create added value.

Many are tech firms, but there are also pharma, cosmetics, design and biotech companies among them.

These companies have created over 1,000 jobs, according to Grobrelnik.

Forum 100% Startup is one of 300 events organised as part of Startup Week Europe, a pan-European initiative.