A Walloon invest is a provincial investment company. It funds businesses in its area through equity and loans, often with Wallonie Entreprendre among its shareholders. There is one per main area: Noshaq in Liège, Sambrinvest in Charleroi, Namur Invest, Invest.BW in Walloon Brabant, IMBC in Mons. Where your main activity sits decides which one.
What exactly is a Walloon invest?
An investment company rooted in a province, which does both equity and lending. The word describes a role more than a legal form.
The legal form, in fact, varies. Namur Invest presents itself as a private company with a commercial purpose, 60% owned by private players and 40% by the Region through Wallonie Entreprendre (the Walloon Region's public financing body). Sambrinvest describes itself as a public-private partnership. Noshaq is a group of several companies, each with its own instruments.
The common thread is the Region. Wallonie Entreprendre says it has invested €1 billion in the invests, which in turn fund local SMEs. At Invest.BW, it sits on the board as an observer. The invest is therefore the local relay of regional financing policy, with its own committees and its own reading of files.
Which invest covers which province?
Checked on the invests' websites on 15.10.2026.
| Invest | Area | Published ticket | Published instruments | Published figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noshaq (formerly Meusinvest) | Province of Liège | Not published | Equity, loans, leasing depending on the group entity | €120m of investments decided per year on average over five years; 60 staff |
| Sambrinvest | Charleroi Métropole | Not published | Risk capital, subordinated, convertible or participating loans, ordinary loans | Nearly 300 SMEs in portfolio, over €200m under management |
| Namur Invest | Province of Namur | Generally €100,000 to €2.5m | Equity stakes, convertible, subordinated, unsecured, secured and bullet loans, property leasing | Roughly 20% equity, 80% debt |
| Invest.BW (formerly Nivelinvest) | Walloon Brabant | Up to €2.5m in total | Equity stake, subordinated or mezzanine loan, convertible | Interventions of 5 to 10 years |
| IMBC | Mons, Borinage, Centre | Not published | Not specified on the pages consulted | From start-up to business transfer |
Sources: Noshaq, Sambrinvest, Namur Invest, Invest.BW, IMBC.
The province of Luxembourg and Wallonia picarde do not appear in this survey. I will not give you an unchecked name: Wallonie Entreprendre will point you to the right relay.
How much do they put in?
Two invests out of five publish a figure. That is the most useful fact in the table.
Namur Invest states generally €100,000 to €2.5m, and says it also works below €500,000. Invest.BW caps out at €2.5m in total, over one or more rounds: if you take €1m today, €1.5m is left for later, not €2.5m. Noshaq, Sambrinvest and IMBC: not published.
The published volumes give another angle. Noshaq decides €120m of investments a year on average. Sambrinvest manages over €200m across nearly 300 SMEs. These are portfolio orders of magnitude, not tickets: they do not tell you how much you will get.
Does an invest lend more than it invests?
At Namur Invest, yes, and by a wide margin: roughly 20% of the portfolio in equity, 80% in debt. A company there receives three to four interventions on average over time.
For an owner, the difference is counted in percentage points. A €400,000 subordinated loan takes no share of your company. The same €400,000 as equity at a pre-money valuation of €1.2m costs you 25% (400,000 out of €1.6m post-money). A made-up example, but it is the calculation to run before every meeting. The choice between the two is covered in our article on quasi-equity.
What do they expect from your file?
The same documents as a private fund: a costed need, a plan, accounts, a team. Namur Invest states there is no fixed decision timeline. Invest.BW excludes companies in difficulty and never funds the whole of a need on its own.
When I read the shareholders' agreement of an SME in Hainaut, from the management side, I looked hardest at the role of the invest's director. The ticket was modest. The list of decisions requiring his consent was not. Namur Invest says so plainly: it generally asks for a board seat when it takes equity.
Before the first meeting:
- check that your main activity really is in the invest's area;
- ask who else it would bring into the round (bank, another invest, a private fund);
- work out the stake it would take at two or three valuations;
- list the decisions you will refuse to submit to its director.
Invests and private funds often team up
Often both. The invest brings local roots and a wide range of loans. A private fund active across Wallonia can bring a larger ticket, a different exit horizon or a specific instrument. ORSA (formerly Investsud), for instance, publishes €500,000 to €2.5m and a Smart Bond, a 5-to-10-year subordinated loan with no dilution, whose return is partly tied to EBITDA.
How demanding public and private investors are, compared, is covered in public invest or private fund. To compare the nine players in my survey, see the ranking of funds for SMEs. And if the deal commits more than 20% of your capital, have the agreement reviewed by a corporate lawyer.
Comparator
Compare investment funds side by side.
Compare now →
Frequently asked questions
From 2009 to 2017, Cédric spent eight years in the corporate lending department of a Belgian bank in Namur, on the side that turns files down and writes the covenants. He then became financial controller at an industrial SME in Hainaut just as a provincial invest took a stake in its capital. Based in Gembloux, he rereads the terms published by Walloon and Brussels funds and invests every month.