# What is a participative loan

> ENISA's instrument explained: a loan of €25,000 to €1.5M with no personal guarantees and no equity given up, with interest partly tied to your results.

- Canonical: https://help.enisa.ai/en/sobre-enisa/que-es-un-prestamo-participativo
- Updated: 2026-08-08
- Language: en-US
- Versión en español: https://help.enisa.ai/sobre-enisa/que-es-un-prestamo-participativo.md

A **participative loan** is a loan — not an investment — with which ENISA finances innovative SMEs and startups: between €25,000 and €1,500,000, with no personal guarantees or collateral, no equity given up, and interest partly tied to your company's results. In five minutes you will understand exactly what a company signs and why this instrument is different from a bank loan and from an investment round.

ENISA is the Spanish public company that provides this financing, known in Spanish as *préstamos participativos*. The figures and terms in this article are checked against ENISA's published guide and conditions (human verification: 6 August 2026).

## The essentials

- **It is a loan, not an investment.** ENISA takes no stake in your company: no equity changes hands, ENISA does not join your board, and the founders are not diluted.
- **No personal guarantees or collateral.** ENISA publishes it verbatim: loans "without guarantees". Neither your house nor your personal assets answer for the loan; the company does.
- **Amount between €25,000 and €1,500,000**, with one key condition: your **own funds (equity) must be at least equal to the amount you request**.
- **Up to 7 years' term, with up to 2 years' grace period** during which you repay no principal.
- **Quarterly principal repayments** once the grace period ends.

## The interest: why it is called "participative"

The interest rate has two tranches:

1. **A fixed tranche**, referenced to Euribor plus a spread.
2. **A variable tranche tied to your company's results**: if the company does well, the interest on that tranche rises; with no profits, it does not apply. That tranche is capped, and the cap depends on the credit rating of the operation — its exact value is set by ENISA in each loan's resolution, so be wary of anyone quoting you a precise figure up front.

There is also an **opening fee of 0.5%**, and early-repayment fees if you decide to pay the loan back ahead of schedule.

## Who it makes sense for

Innovative companies incorporated in Spain that want to grow without dilution and without risking personal assets, and that can match the loan with equivalent own funds — usually via a capital increase. It tends to sit well alongside investment rounds: many projects use it to complement their shareholders' and investors' capital.

## Common issues

### Will ENISA ask for shares later?

No. It is debt: you repay it with interest, and the relationship ends there.

### Do I have to mortgage anything?

No. There are no asset guarantees and no personal sureties.

### What exact interest will I pay?

The fixed tranche follows the formula (Euribor + spread); the variable one depends on your results and the cap set in ENISA's resolution. Until you have the resolution, any hard number is an estimate.