CRANE celebrates 11 years of investing
Croatian Business Angels Network (CRANE) commemorated its first eleven years of investing in start-ups with a celebration dinner at Westin Hotel, Zagreb. CRANE members have invested more than 40 million kunas in Croatian start-ups so far. The dinner was held under the patronage of Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the President of the Republic of Croatia.
The president of CRANE, Davorin Štetner, spoke of the importance of business angels during his introduction speech: “Why are business angels valuable to societies? Because they can use the income they earned to selflessly invest in young entrepreneurs. That is a great ability. I will remind you – Croatian Business Angels do not have any tax deductions on investments nor they have incentives, but this never stopped us from investing over 40 million kunas in start-ups. That is why I am glad that CRANE has been recognized in our society”.
Over a hundred prominent guests attended the ceremony, including the deputy of President Grabar-Kitarović, the president of Croatian exporters and Končar Electrical Industry – Darinko Bago, Croatian ministers Darko Horvat and Marko Pavić, the Ambassador of the United States (Robert Kohorst), Izrael (Ilan Mor), United Kingdom (Andrew Dalgleish), and Italy (Adriano Chiodi Cianfarani). One of the most attractive business angels and the president of European Business Angels Network (EBAN), Peter Crowley, came from Cambridge to support CRANE. The ceremony was also attended by Mirka Jozić, the head of the Department of Economy, Dragutin Ranogajec, the president of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Mladen Fogec, the president of Foreign Investor Association and Mladen Jakopović, the president of the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture.
This year’s gala was also marked by the presence of many CRANE members – Hrvoje Prpić, Davor Tremac and Adrian Ježina, Kristina Ercegović, the president of Women in Adria, Ivana Matić, secretaries of state, Nataša Mikuš-Žigman and Mario Antonić, the adviser to the Prime Minister, Tomislav Pokaz, advisers to the president of the Republic of Croatia, Mirjana Hrga and Marko Jurčić, and many others.
Allyson Reneau, a mother of eleven children who graduated at Harvard and, among other things, worked at NASA, also gave an inspirational speech.
Special awards were given for promoting entrepreneurship and the start-up ecosystem. Awards were given to Johnatan Cooper and Hrvoje Prpić for creating CRANE, the minister Marko Pavić, the City Office for the Economy, the Embassy of United States, United Kingdom, Israel and Sweden, and the ambassadors Robert Kohorst, Ilan Mor, and Andrew Dalgleish. Sanja Vištica and Boris Mišević, Croatian TV reporters, received special recognition. The same was received by Poslovni dnevnik, the only Croatian daily business newspaper. Furthermore, special awards will be given to Marko Repecki, a journalist for Index.hr, weekly business portal LIDER, and to the mayor of Zagreb City.
Announcing EAIS Agenda, Confirmed Speakers, Startups Pitching and More!
We are happy to announce that the agenda for the European Angel Investment Summit has been released! Join us on November 25th-26th in Brussels and help us put business angels in the spotlight! Listen to inspiring keynotes and panel discussions on how angels bring economic dynamism by financing innovation, help come up with solutions to Europe’s biggest challenges, and network with the best of the best in the early stage ecosystem. We already have angels from all over Europe registered for the Summit!
More than 40 Confirmed Speakers!
Listen to great speakers discuss topics like gender balance, scaling up our startups, bringing down investment borders, addressing climate and environmental issues, and more!
Visit the European Angel Investment Summit Website!
The volume and value of angel investment deals targeting companies based in Western Europe rebounded in September following the traditionally quieter holiday month of August, according to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk. In all, 43 deals totaling EUR 156 million were announced over the four weeks, compared to 21 deals worth an aggregate EUR 126 million in August.
However, the volume and value of angel investment deals announced in October to date has failed to sustain gains made in September as 17 deals totaling EUR 112 million have been announced so far, through there is still time for this figure to increase before the end of the month. Overall value in October to date would be significantly lower if not for one EUR 55 million funding round by Tier Mobility of Germany. This was the only investment valued at more than EUR 50 million in October to date and it accounts for almost half of the EUR 112 million-worth of deals announced so far this month. It is also only one of two deals targeting a company based in Germany.
As usual, the UK attracted the majority of angel investment in October to date, with seven deals, compared to two deals apiece for France, Germany and Italy. Interestingly, targets based in Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Denmark each featured in one deal. Acqustic Platform of Spain stands out in particular as it claims to be one of the largest online communities of emerging musicians in Spain. More than 3,000 musicians in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Malaga, Seville and Bilbao are registered on the website and, through the online platform, can be hired for concerts at home, corporate events and festivals, among other things. Acqustic raised EUR 650,000 in a funding round led by Toushka SAPI de CV, Lanai Partners, Business Booster, IESE Business School, ESADE Business Angels Network and EAE Invierte. It is the 13th largest angel investment targeting a Spanish company in 2019 to date, the biggest of which features Citibox SMART Services raising EUR 11 million in June.
Within a global context, Spanish targets did not feature in the top 25 deals announced globally in October to date, though Western Europe’s largest angel investment of the month so far was third, after Relativity Space and SparkCognition; these two US-based companies have raised EUR 128 million and EUR 91 million, respectively. In all, 73 angel investment deals totaling EUR 522 million have been announced globally in October to date, compared to 142 deals worth an aggregate EUR 871 million for the whole of September (August: 129 deals; EUR 768 million).
In conclusion, angel investment targeting companies based in Western Europe ramped up following the traditionally quieter holiday month of August, but October needs some high-value financing rounds announced within the next ten days in order to sustain the growth recorded.
© Zephyr
AFME has published a new report tracking the progress to date of the European Commission’s flagship Capital Markets Union (CMU) project through eight Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The report, which EBAN contributed to, is entitled, ‘Capital Markets Union – Key Performance Indicators (Second Edition)‘, second publication that reviews developments in the CMU project and identifies what further work needs to be done.
White Paper from the Luxembourg Space Agency focusses on opportunities for collaboration between terrestrial and space mining sectors
On 9 October 2019, the second Mining Space Summit gathered more than 180 experts, from 24 countries, working in fields as diverse as oil & gas, terrestrial mining, space, finance, and government.
Held in Luxembourg, the goal of the Summit was to understand the technical and economic challenges facing the space resources industry and make recommendations for the future growth of this high technology sector.
The White Paper provides a compact summary of current thinking on a sector which will be central to our future expansion into the solar system.
As the lack of access to finance remains the main obstacle for innovative companies in the MENA region, THE NEXT SOCIETY, through EBAN and BANC, introduced the 1st Investment Academy, a special 16-hour coaching event on “Preparing for due Diligence” on October 3rd-4th 2019 in Barcelona. The event took place on the premises of Foment del Treball in central Barcelona.
A follow-up to the Innovators Academy
This coaching session was designed as a follow-up to the Innovators Academy held in Tunis in April. While this first event aimed to get the entrepreneurs of the second TNS promotion up to speed with the fundamentals of business plan and pitching, helping them improve their intellectual property strategy in the presence of investors, business angels and financing experts, the Investment Academy was conceived as the next step in the ladder for the participants, helping them improve market penetration, their sales strategy, financial business plan and pitching skills, with the ultimate goal of convincing an investor to sign a deal during a Power Meeting!
Extra support with BSOs
Given the central role that Business Support Organizations play in an entrepreneur’s journey, at least one BSO per country was invited to accompany entrepreneurs both to work on investment readiness and to share the way networks of BAs and VCs are structured in their respective countries. During the event, the BSOs attended the same session as the start-ups, both contributing to the discussion and learning more about the challenges and the solutions to issues encountered by the entrepreneurs they support.
Experienced coaches with a local flavor
Over the two-day event, the participants attended workshops by experienced Business Angels and financial managers such as Albert Colomer and Alex d’Espona of BANC. Moreover, they were able to attend presentations on various local and regional structures in Catalonia and Spain, aimed at both local and international entrepreneurs. Follow-up meetings and visits were set up during the event, which showed the value of coming together to talk about different issues involved in entrepreneurship and finding partners and solutions in an international atmosphere!
This coaching session has been the occasion to further discuss access to finance strategies at national and regional levels and exchange good practices and expertise between the participants!
You can find the booklet of the event, including the bios of coaches as well as the descriptions of participating start-ups and BSOs here.
What’s next for EBAN in THE NEXT SOCIETY?
The next step in the THE NEXT SOCIETY timeline for EBAN is two power meetings within 5 days of each other. Stay tuned for more details and JOIN THE NEXT SOCIETY!
On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Sophia Antipolis and the Sophia BEARTHDAYS and in cooperation with the Fondation Sophia Antipolis and Sophia Metropole Mag
EBAN, the European Business Angels Network and Sophia Business Angels have the pleasure to invite you to a Reception in honour of
Senator Pierre Laffitte
Founder of Sophia Antipolis
6:30 p.m. Thursday 10 October
“La Digitale”
434 Chemin des Encourdoules
F-06220 Vallauris
Tel. +33 4 9295 1950 or in France 04 9295 1950
R.S.V.P.
Géraldine Quetin
Business Manager
Sophia Business Angels
email: businessmanager@sophiabusinessangels.com
