Spain’s state-backed venture capital arm, SETT, is steering the country’s audiovisual policy from subsidies to equity. The fund, part of the Spain Audiovisual Hub, deployed €215.6 million ($252.3 million) over the last 12 months and says it catalysed a further €230 million ($269.1 million) in private co-investment — a combined push of $521 million across film, TV, video games and adjacent technology.
That is roughly four times the average budget of Spain’s core ICAA film subsidy fund, signalling a very different policy instrument.
Why SETT looks different
Since the 1940s, Spanish government support largely meant grants or loans for individual films, with production tax breaks added from around 2015. SETT instead takes equity in companies with a portfolio of productions, holds for up to 10 years, requires private co-investment and looks for businesses that can compete internationally.
“We are moving from an era of encouraging an ecosystem to consolidating a truly international audiovisual industry,” says María González Veracruz, Spain’s secretary of state for digitalization and AI.
SETT director general Javier Ponce describes the fund as a “public catalyst for growth, employment, innovation and talent,” backed by EU Next Generation funding. Those EU funds closed on Aug. 30, but Ponce says audiovisual will remain a strategic area under the new España Crece fund, with procedures being discussed with Spanish state bank ICO.
Where the disclosed capital is landing
Eleven of 15 SETT investments have been made public. The mix shows an industrial bet, not a slate of one-off films:
- Good Films Studios Spain: a 46% stake for €19.8 million, targeting English-language films budgeted at €15 million–€25 million with international theatrical stars.
- Impulse Studio: a full value-chain company covering development, financing, production, post-production, sales and distribution.
- Anima Kitchent: €24.9 million in equity alongside DNEG, backing preschool animation IP including “Cleo & Cuquín” and a YouTube presence of over 67 million subscribers.
- Amuse Labs: €6.4 million for a 48% position in a Canary Islands kids and family IP company.
- Moonlighting Studios Spain and The Refinery: a joint €25 million with Known Associates Group for Madrid production and post-production capacity in the Basque Country and Canary Islands.
- Ítaca Films Madrid: €20 million of a total €45 million, with Ítaca Films and Omega Capital.
- Lazona Audiovisual Hub: a 46% stake for €1.1 million in a Madrid creation and post-production facility.
- “Milo”: €9.2 million with Planeta Junior and Amuse Animation to co-buy distribution rights to a preschool series sold in 186 territories.
The business logic
The push comes as global commissioning remains below peak levels — around 75% of peak TV, according to Ampere Analysis. SETT’s response is to back companies that can own and export IP rather than simply service international productions.
María Coronado, SETT’s audiovisual director, says the model is built on three pillars: an industrywide rather than project-based approach; investment in equity capital of companies or regulated vehicles; and medium- to long-term public-private partnership.
That framing matters for producers. Impulse Studio CEO Andrés Sánchez Pajares says government backing gives the company a “stamp of security” and the ability to bring hard equity while retaining part of the IP. Producer Miriam Segal, whose Good Films Studios Spain wants to make star-driven English-language films in the €15 million–€25 million range, says independent film at that budget is “very, very hard,” and that SETT support plus potential producer-driven tax incentives is “like I died and went to heaven.”
Omdia’s Maria Rua Aguete frames the shift more soberly: Spain has already become a strong production destination; the next step is to build Spanish companies that own and export intellectual property. SETT’s portfolio — from preschool animation to English-language film and post-production — is a direct test of that thesis.
Source: Variety
