Many technology companies with their own R&D&I projects go for years without cashing in on their tax credits. Mecides offers a way to convert them into advance financing, without incurring debt or giving up equity in the company.

Every year, hundreds of Spanish technology companies invest months of work into developing their own software, platforms, or features. That effort generates tax credits for R&D&I, but it rarely translates into cash flow in the short term: the return comes long after the expense has already been incurred.

Mecides, a financial structuring firm specializing in R&D&I tax lease transactions, offers a way to access that liquidity in advance. The mechanism allows companies with their own technology projects to monetize their future tax credits through an AIE (Economic Interest Group), without taking on debt or giving up ownership stakes in the company.

The mechanism operates in three phases. First, Mecides analyzes the company’s technology project to determine whether it generates R&D&I tax credits. Next, a specialized technical partner formally certifies the project—a necessary step to validate the tax credit with the Tax Agency. Finally, the transaction is structured through an AIE: investors with high tax burdens receive a tax deduction, and in exchange, they provide the financing that the company receives as advance liquidity.

"Many technology-based companies generate eligible projects without even realizing it, because they have never considered R&D&I as a source of funding. Our job is to identify that potential and turn it into actual cash flow, without the company incurring any additional costs or risks," explains Nicolás de la Serna Fraile, Director of Growth at Mecides.

For technology companies participating in Tech Show Madrid, this mechanism may offer an alternative to bank debt or dilution through an investment round as a way to continue financing the development of their own products.