Public or semi-public capital refers to funding providers where part or all of their funding is received from government sources. The government may place certain restrictions on how the company operates and invests. This is a broad group that includes a wide range of capital providers including fully or partially publicly funded organisations that work in various sectors to promote access to capital and technical assistance. These may include annual government funded start-up and/ or innovation competitions, industry consortiums and development banks, multilateral aid organisations, credit guarantee schemes, development finance institutions (DFIs), etc. Because they are backed by the government, public and semi-public funders enjoy trust among entrepreneurs and project owners and can be the first port of call when looking for capital.