Spain, May 27 -- The European Investment Bank (EIB), through its advisory services (EIB Advisory) is exploring how to leverage external credit ratings to facilitate access to finance for innovative startups and scaleups in Europe. The initiative will support companies backed by EIB venture debt instruments by facilitating first-time independent credit ratings from ESMA-registered agencies. This tailored service will support companies that are strategic for Europe's competitiveness and strategic autonomy.A first agreement to conduct a pilot of this service has been signed with Spain based credit rating agency INBONIS, specialized in providing ratings for SMEs. The pilot project will run over the next 18 months under the InvestEU Advisory Hub...