Switzerland extended a crisis shore-up of business to include start-ups. The move follows widespread anger over their exclusion from a more than $40 billion emergency loan bazooka.

The Swiss government is extending a program of emergency loans to start-ups as well as established small- and mid-sized businesses, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The move follows consternation among fledgling firms, who said they felt they were left high and dry by a massive government-backed loan program.

«Given the urgency, the federal council decided on April 22 to use the existing system of guarantees for SMEs to provide support for start-ups, it said. «This approach can be implemented without the need for a time-consuming legislative amendment.»

Softer Terms

The terms for start-ups are more lenient: the government will guarantee 65 percent of a loan, while local cantons will pony up the remaining 35 percent. However, cantons are the gatekeepers: they decide whether to offer the same guarantees to start-ups as they are to SMEs, the federal government said.

Until now, some cantons have decided on their own emergency measures: officials in Zug, home to a budding cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, as well as Zurich set aside hundreds of millions for emergency loans.

Competition Among Cantons

The government said it can co-guarantee up to 100 million Swiss francs in total through the program, which is to be administered by Innosuisse, a government agency for innovation. Taken together with the cantonal backing, start-ups are potentially in for 154 million francs in credit.

The government will draw up by next Thursday a list of cantons which will participate in the aid scheme. Cantons have proven fiercely competitive in attracting start-ups, many of which are clustered around major technical universities EPFL in Lausanne and ETH in Zurich.

Fintechs Shunned 

Fintech firms will be a prime beneficiary of the scheme: they have been largely frozen out of the government emergency loan program, which leans heavily on the muscle of banks.

In the U.K. and U.S., Funding Circle – a lending platform – was enlisted to help with small business loans. Swiss lending matcher Loanboox's CEO told finews.com last week that his offer to help Switzerland's program was eschewed by the government.