Recommend a Start-Up for the Copernicus Accelerator 2018

Since 2016, the European Commission has established the Copernicus Accelerator as part of its Copernicus Start-up Programme. Through the Copernicus Accelerator, fifty promising start–ups using Copernicus data and information receive support from experienced mentors and work with them on advancing their business over a period of ten months.

For the first time, half of the spots are allocated through an Open Call, to which start-ups can apply. The final participants thereof are selected through a selection process by a panel of experienced judges. Besides a video and a pitch deck, applicants for the Open Call need to provide a standard recommendation letter from an established organisation with experience or interest in Earth Observation.

The deadline for the open call application closes on 15 September 2018, at 23:59 CEST.

You can find more information on the following link : http://accelerator.copernicus.eu/opencall.

Seraphim Capital wanted to thank all participants for theri interest in our Seraphim Space Camp Investor Day, celebrating the culmination of the first edition of our Space Tech acceleration programme in London.

We hope everyone who attended enjoyed the though-provoking discussions around the growing opportunities of space tech and managed to connect with the attendees and the 6 start-ups that pitched their businesses with confidence. Please find here an electronic copy of the brochure distributed on the day. Do not hesitate to get in touch with any of the Space Camp / Seraphim Capital Investment teams if you’d like additional information or for a direct introduction to the teams.

Do also check out our social media that covers the activities of the programme and the investor day:

We will ensure to send you through details of our future events. With Cohort #2 starting in London In less than 2 months these should come through to you very soon.

EBAN, the European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and Early Stage Market Players, is delighted to announce the EBAN 2017 Annual Statistics Compendium – Europe’s most extensive annual research on the activity of business angels and business angel networks. The Statistics Compendium provides information on the overall early stage market, on how business angel networks operate and insights into their investment attitudes and demography.

In 2017, the early stage investment market in Europe totaled 11,4 billion euros, out of which 7,3 billion euros was invested by business angels, an increase of 9% from 2016!

EBAN’s Statistics Compendium is based not only on the information provided by European business angel networks, Federations of BANs, individual business angels and other validated early stage investors who responded to EBAN’s Survey, but also based on data published in national and regional research studies on angel investment and EU Commission publications, Dealroom.co, Crunchbase, Zephyr (Bureau va Dijk) databases, governmental BA co-investment funds and fiscal incentive reports.

Download EBAN's 2017 Statistics Compendium
Download the Statistics Infographic

EBAN, the European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and Early Stage Market Players is proud to present the new edition of its much anticipated annual mapping of fiscal incentives available to business angels in Europe. This year, EBAN partnered again with BOFIDI to develop the annual publication.
Fiscal incentives have an important role in stimulating the activity of business angels and early stage equity investors in start-ups. They encourage private investors to diversify their portfolio towards unquoted (primarily equity) investments in high-growth, innovative companies. This can significantly increase the pool of private individuals ready to make an equity investment in a start-up.
EBAN expresses its gratitude to all contributors who provided data and information to the current research, in particular, we would like to thank BOFIDI and its network of partners.

Download the Fiscal Incentives Compendium

European Business Angels Network and Cornerstone Communications Announce the Regional Winners in the 2018 Edition of CEE-Released Project

     

On June 27th, 2018 European Business Angels Network (EBAN) and Cornerstone Communications officially announced the finalists of the CEE-Released program at EBAN Annual Congress in Sofia. CEE-Released is the first cross-border program in Central and Eastern Europe, organized by EBAN and Cornerstone Communications, that offers the opportunity to propel companies into an international business angels’ environment and other investors – venture capital funds, private equity funds, investment funds that are interested in companies with dynamic, innovative and high growth potential.

CEE-Released is a pan-regional project, carried out in cooperation with stock exchanges, institutional investors of the public and private markets, and providers of professional services servicing the business. The goal of the annually organized CEE-Released project is to carry out a search for and to expose as well as train the best CEE-based companies that may be classified as early-stage business and growth companies, representing various sectors of the economy and operating on local or international markets.

The finalists of the national CEE-Released 2018 Edition that qualified to the regional final were:

  1. Unispotter, Austria
  2. Appzio, Bulgaria
  3. Fractory, Estonia
  4. Monetizr, Latvia
  5. MonitorCR, Poland
  6. PerfectDashboard, Poland
  7. Photon, Poland
  8. Carbon, Romania
  9. 2Performant, Romania

Each of the companies had a unique opportunity to pitch their business in front of hundreds of business angels, investors, representatives of the regional stock exchanges, potential partners and clients. The quality of the pitch and the viability of the business model were used by the Jury members in order to select the winner of the 2018 edition of CEE-Released.

The Jury consisted of the following members: Ivan Takev, CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, István Máté-Tóth, Deputy CEO of the Budapest Stock Exchange, Robert Lugowski, Managing Partner of CobinAngels and Ludwik Sobolewski, Co-founder and Partner at Cornerstone Communications.

Photon was voted to be the winner of the 2018 of CEE-Released. Photon is a Polish start-up that produces world’s first robot that develops together with a child and introduces children to the world of new technologies through experiences and experiments.

Romania’s 2Performant and Austian Unispotter landed, ex aequo, the second place in the project.

2Performant is a marketing infrastructure for e-commerce presented to the clients as an easy-to-use, gamified platform where e-shops and marketing specialists are working together at a Cost Per Sale Model. Unispotter on the other hand, is an application that helps users find the perfect program and university for them and helps in the application process, for free.

“CEE-Released project put a spotlight on the best start-ups and scale-ups from the region. We are pleased with the quality of the participating companies and the inspiration and innovation they have brought to the EBAN Annual Summit. We look forward to having them within our network, helping them gain international exposure and access to the much-needed capital” said Candace Johnson, President at EBAN.

“Looking at the companies that participated in CEE Released as well as those that were recognized in Sofia last week, we feel proud because we see tangible evidence of the fact that Central and Eastern Europe region is a robust investment territory, with a growing start-up and scale-up scene. The interest generated in this project shows us that it did truly create a bridge between Eastern Europe and the global networks of investors, business angels and even, the media.” said Ludwik Sobolewski, Co-Founder and Partner at Cornerstone Communications.

European Business Angels Network and Cornerstone Communications were the organizers, promoters and coordinators of CEE-Released. The organization of the program was supported by local business angels’ networks, associated with EBAN, in countries of operations of CEE-Released.

 

About EBAN: 

EBAN – The European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and Early Stage Market Players – is the pan-European representative for the early stage investor community, gathering 184 member organisations in 59 countries around the world. Established in 1999 by a group of pioneer angel networks in Europe with the collaboration of the European Commission and EURADA, EBAN represents a sector estimated to invest 11,4 billion Euros a year and playing a vital role in Europe’s future, notably in the funding of SMEs. EBAN fuels Europe’s growth through the creation of wealth and jobs.

Website: https://test.artmedia.ee/eban-live
Contact: info@test.artmedia.ee

About CORNERSTONE COMMUNICATIONS:

CORNERSTONE COMMNUNICATIONS is the first CEE-focused investor relations business, a capital market agency, market value enhancer and regional internationalizer. The company is dedicated to providing services in the area of investor relations (IR), shareholder engagement, capital markets PR and arranging capital market partnerships between companies and investors. Heartquarted in Bucharest and Warsaw, present throughout the CEE region.

Website: www.cornerstone-comm.eu
Contact: ir@cornerstone-comm.eu

EBAN offered the reward to two fiery Portuguese ladies who created Firefly, a solution using satellite data and machine learning to better fight forest fires.

The prizegiving ceremony for the third ActInSpace competition organized by CNES, ESA and ESA BIC Sud France was held during the Toulouse Space Show 2018. This year’s edition of the competition created to nurture entrepreneurial start-up initiatives employing space technologies brought together some 2,229 participants from 53 cities in 32 countries on five continents, who between them presented 510 start-up projects.

As a sponsor and partner of ActInSpace, EBAN Space was delighted to offer a prize: the Women Entrepreneurship Award. The point was highlight the most promising project using space data or space technologies and lead by women.

About the prize

The award aims to raise the attention on women entrepreneurship especially in the space-tech sector. This prize is a great opportunity for all women to get in the entrepreneurship spotlight. What we aim to do is create more chances for men and women to work together in this fantastic sector that is the Space industry.

The presentation showed an excellent entrepreneurial mindset from the team which has a very well-defined roadmap for the development of their project. Not only are they solving a serious problem, but they are also creating a big social impact for the communities they involved in their work.