The European Investment Bank has signed a €20 million venture debt facility with Tensive, the Italian medtech. The bank signed the loan on 5 August 2026. The financing is under the EIB's venture debt instrument and is supported by InvestEU.
Proceeds will fund research, development and capital expenditure. The EIB said the facility will advance regenerative implants for reconstructive surgery after breast cancer, extend Tensive's cash runway and help attract further private capital. The bank also said Tensive currently lacks access to commercial debt, and that InvestEU backing lets it provide long-term venture debt it could not extend to the same extent without the programme. The EIB put the wider project cost at about €44 million. It approved the operation on 16 June.
Tensive is a clinical-stage company based in Milan. It makes regenerative implants for breast reconstruction. Sanjay Kakkar is chief executive. The company was founded in 2012 and says it expects first regulatory approvals in early 2027.
Tensive says it has raised €23 million to date, including about €5 million of grants. On 30 January 2025 it closed a €14 million Series A led by Panakès Partners, with the EIC Fund, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Recomec and other institutional and angel investors. Kakkar joined as chief executive when that round closed. The company said the Series A would fund completion of a pivotal clinical trial.
In December 2022 Tensive said it had been awarded EIC Accelerator blended finance of a €2.5 million grant and a further €6 million of equity from the EIC Fund. The company has also received earlier EU SME Instrument and Lombardy research grants.
The EIB says venture debt is typically between €10 million and €50 million and is available to European SMEs and mid-caps that have already raised equity from professional investors. It describes the product as complementing venture capital, with a more limited effect on ownership than a new share issue. The Tensive facility is supported by InvestEU, the EU programme that uses a €26.2 billion budget guarantee to crowd public and private capital into policy-priority projects. The EIB Group is the main implementing partner. The bank said the operation contributes to InvestEU's research, development and innovation objective.