From Emotions to Decisions: Ulla Heurlin’s Path in Angel Investing

In the latest Lessons Learned episode, Ulla Heurlin, experienced business angel, reflects on a crucial case where she learned the importance of making decisions promptly, especially when facing issues with fellow investors and concerns about a product’s scalability. Ulla opens up about the complexities of collaborating with investors, highlighting the need to carefully choose partners for smoother decision-making. Instead of falling for technology, she candidly discusses falling for the people behind the venture, stressing the balance between intuition and logic. 

Ulla shares the emotional challenges of leaving an investment, considering financial factors and family well-being in her decisions. Through her experiences, she advises fellow investors to ask questions openly, embrace curiosity, and appreciate the learning curve without regrets. Tune in for a down-to-earth conversation packed with insights from the dynamic world of angel investing.

You can also listen to the full podcast on our Spotify account here.

The European space sector benefits from being diverse, robust, and enjoying rapid growth in recent years. European nations have a long history of cooperation in space research, technology development, and satellite deployment and the European space sector encompasses a wide range of activities, including satellite manufacturing, launch services, Earth Observation (EO) applications, broadcasting satellite services, global navigation solutions, and space exploration ventures.

In this handbook, we will explore the key players, trends, risks, and opportunities to provide Business Angels, who are not yet operating in the sector, with the basic information to assess and explore investment opportunities in the space sector.

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What better way to start the year than with a calendar of 15 must-attend angel events? But before you start buying (discounted if you’re an EBAN member ) tickets and booking flights, here are the 3 events you absolutely can’t miss in 2024:

EBAN’S MEMBER benefiits webinar on February 7

Sign up now for an exclusive EBAN’S Member benefits webinar on February 7th! Join us for engaging discussions on key topics, including all your member discounts and offers, the introduction of the EBAN Weekends, our brand new Membership Platform, EBAN support for your startups, and much more. If you’re a member and interested in participating, contact us at ismar@test.artmedia.ee.

The egg Investor Day in Athens on February 16

Mark your calendars for The egg Investor Day on February 16th, one of the largest investor events where more than 40 startup and scaleup companies have the opportunity to interact with 100+ representatives from VCs, Family Offices and Crowd Funding platforms as well as individual Business Angels, from Greece, Central & Eastern Europe, Israel, USA, Canada and the UK. If you’re a member and interested in participating, contact us at ismar@test.artmedia.ee and meet us in Athens! 

4YFN Event in Barcelona on February 26-29

4YFN powers startup journeys with contacts, exposure, and investments, serving as the event partner for MWC Barcelona on 26-29 February. As a strategic collaborator, it connects startups with key stakeholders, investors, and corporate innovators, ensuring a remarkable launch into the competitive business landscape. You can choose your perfect pass and get more info here. EBAN Members can contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee for free tickets.

LEAP 2024 in Riyadh on March 4-7

LEAP is a global tech event that invites you to take a leap into new worlds with some of the greatest minds in tech. This year, LEAP  is collocated with DeepFest, the event’s dedicated AI stream and the premier meeting place for the global Artificial Intelligence ecosystem of thought-leaders, change-makers, big tech, data scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs leading innovation across businesses. If you’re a member and interested in participating, contact us at ismar@test.artmedia.ee.

ChangeNOW 2024 in Paris on March 25-27

ChangeNOW is a summit that brings together the most innovative solutions and impactful change-makers tackling our planet’s biggest challenges, to take action, together for a more sustainable world. This event builds bridges between the entrepreneurs, business leaders and policy-makers to accelerate change. Get more information about the event here and contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee for our exclusive deal! 

Scale Up with Wolves and European CVC Awards in Berlin on March 29

Scale Up with Wolves connects growing companies with their next stage of Investors (those that are funding post-Seed or Series A rounds). Therefore, this event is for growing companies that already have a proven business-model, initial clients, growing revenues, and have moved into expansion mode. To get your 25% off EBAN discount, email ismar@test.artmedia.ee!

Tahko Ski Lift Pitch in Kuopio on April 3-4

Join us at the annual Tahko Ski Lift Pitch, a unique startup event in Eastern Finland that connects entrepreneurs with investors amidst the slopes of Tahko Ski Resort. This energising business and networking experience is uniting professionals, investors, academics, and civic leaders. Your ticket covers both days, a networking dinner, daily lunch, and a ski pass.  EBAN Members can benefit from a 40%, contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee.

ACA 2024 – The Summit of Angel Investing in Ohio on May 13-15

EBAN members can participate in the ACA Summit, the flagship angel investing event hosted by the Angel Capital Association. The event supports professional development of new and experienced angel investors and ecosystem leaders exploring critical topics facing the angel investing community.  EBAN members enjoy a $200 discount. Contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee.

Podim in Maribor on May 13- 15

Podim is creating real value by bringing together and connecting renowned international investors, established corporations, and startups & scaleups from the Alps-Adriatic and Western Balkans regions. For maximum quality of learning and networking, the event made a strategic decision not to accept more than 1,000 participants, just the right size event to offer you easy access to personally meet top-notch people. Find out more info here and contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee for your deal!

EBAN Congress 2024 in Tallinn on May 20-22

 

The 2024 EBAN Annual Congress in Tallinn, Estonia will bring together 500+ angel investors, entrepreneurs, and industry experts from around the globe to explore the latest trends, opportunities, and challenges in the startup ecosystem. Have it all: from insightful sessions and workshops to engaging keynotes, cultural activities, and of course the EBAN Awards! EBAN members receive special discounts for the 2024 EBAN Annual Congress – find them here!

GITEX Africa 2024 in Marrakech on May 29-31

The tech scene in Africa is rapidly advancing and changing at an exceptional rate. GITEX Africa 2024 is unveiling three new sectors aimed at propelling the advancement of various technological innovations throughout the continent: Digital Health, Smart Manufacturing, and Agritech. This highlights the increasing significance of Africa in the worldwide technology arena. Learn more about the event here and contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee to participate for free! 

Vienna UP’24 The Startup Festival in Vienna on June 6-9

Don’t miss Vienna UP’24 the Startup Festival, from June 3-9, 2024, in Vienna. With 10,000+ participants, 50 events, and endless networking, it’s a unique experience for startups, investors, tech enthusiasts, creatives, and visionaries. Join us in the heart of Europe for an interconnected celebration that propels you into the global startup ecosystem.  For your deal as an EBAN member contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee.

Jyvaskyla rally Findland in Jyväskylä on August 1-4 

EBAN is once again participating in the Jyväskylä Business Rally hosted by the City of Jyväskylä/Business Jyväskylä, a cross border startup-investor networking event in the heart of Finland during the official Rally Finland week in Jyväskylä. The Business Rally includes investor networking events and pitching competitions with trackside seats to watch the races. Join us for pitches, rally races, and networking, as well as insights from experienced investors and major industry players! If you are interested in participating in this by-invite only event contact ismar@test.artmedia.ee.

European Angel Investment Summit 2024 in Brussels on October 15-16

The European Angel Investment Summit is the annual conference where early stage investors, entrepreneurs and change-makers get together to fuel Europe’s growth. This event is a must-attend for business angels, but also for any other early stage investment actor, supporter of entrepreneurship or innovation at large. Are you interested in attending? Pre-register now for EAIS24!

Read full press release here:

 

Introduction

With the first Armenia-born unicorn Picsart, a unicorn founded by Armenian founders ServiceTitan in the United States and many other startups either born in Armenia or founded by Armenians help to shape Armenia’s unique place on the world’s innovation map.

Armenia inherited a strong high-tech ecosystem from the Soviet era, encompassing a technical educational system, software development talent, and international connections. These factors enabled the development of Armenia’s Information and Communication Technologies sector. Since the early 2000s the sector has been steadily growing and currently there are over 1000 software development companies providing software development services globally. Leading transnational companies such as Synopsys, VMWare, Siemens, Adobe, NVIDIA, AMD have large R&D centers established in Armenia.

Third, that brings Armenia one of its greatest strengths is a Diaspora. Armenians have strong positions in the global startup hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, London, Paris. Armenians keep strong ties with their homeland and they are willing to support Armenia. While Armenia establishes its strong position on the global innovation map and ties with the Armenian Diaspora are strengthening, this enables a strategic opportunity to transform Armenia into a regional startup hub seamlessly bridged with the global value chains through its Diaspora.

All this means the Armenian startup ecosystem development is just starting and with its decentralized diaspora, Armenia has a unique opportunity to become a door opener and accelerator for regional startups.

Science & Technology Angels Network (STAN) spin off

STAN was established in February 2018 at the initiative of the Foundation for Armenian Science & Technology with a vision to bring together prominent Diaspora Armenians to join their financial capital, network and entrepreneurial talent and help engraving best tech entrepreneurship knowledge in Armenia.

Within 5 years, STAN grew from a group of 18 founding angels into a group of around 40 angels from 6 countries who made over 700 000 USD in investments in 15 startups.

Being operated by FAST as an informal group of angel investors for 5 years, STAN has accumulated strong expertise in startup sourcing, working on deal structuring, maintaining the relations with angels, startup ecosystem and a broader community of supporters in Diaspora and Worldwide.

STAN, having matured over the past five years, has reached a point where it can operate independently and sustainably. STAN officially spun out of FAST to continue its mission as a not-for-profit Foundation.

“STAN’s remarkable growth reflects the shared commitment to nurturing the Armenian startup ecosystem. This is a remarkable milestone, and we owe this success to the unwavering support of our angels, partners, and the inspiring startups that have been an integral part of our journey”,  says Armen Orujyan, a Founding CEO of FAST and a Founding Angel of STAN.

Armen Orujyan, a Founding CEO of FAST and a Founding Angel of STAN.

Watch a recap of STAN’s past 5 years!

Empowering Armenian Startup Ecosystem

STAN marked its 5th anniversary by announcing its official spin-off from FAST and organizing a startup ecosystem meetup in Yerevan, Armenia. The Empowering Armenian Startup Ecosystem Meetup by STAN brought together 50+ angel investors, entrepreneurs, and industry experts to address the challenges faced by the ecosystem and explore ways to better the situation.

Through a collaborative effort, the meet-up participants shaped the following actions to foster startup development in Armenia:

Notably, the minister of High-Tech Industry and representatives of the Armenian government participated in the meetup emphasizing the importance of the community and contributing their vision in shaping the community’s joint effort in shaping Armenia’s unique place in the global innovation map.

See the photos of the event here.

Vision of further development

Success of Diaspora Armenians such as one of the STAN’s founding angels Noubar Afeyan (Founder & CEO of Flagship Pioneering, Co-Founder and Chairman at Moderna Therapeutics), Alexis Ohanian (founder of Reddit), Vahe Kuzoyan and Ara Mahdessian (founders of ServiceTitan), Hovhannes Avoyan (co-founder and CEO of Picsart), Nina Achadjian (partner at Index Ventures), and many others demonstrate that if put in an effective economic ecosystem Armenian talent thrives and achieves unlimited success potential.

That said, STAN shares the vision that the Armenian startup ecosystem should be focused on consolidating community and through collaborative effort between the ecosystem and the Government transform Armenia into a well established economy, embracing talent and creating opportunities for global success through strong ties of the Armenian diaspora.

“STAN, as a network of angel investors, will focus on expanding our investor base, increasing the scale and volume of our investments, and nurturing startups through the seed stage. We will establish our dedicated team, specializing in investment analysis, startup coordination, project discovery, and investor engagement,” outlines Ruben Osipyan, as he presents STAN’s future plans.

Ruben Osipyan, STAN CEO

STAN Angels and the STAN team are motivated to continue their journey in growing the network’s impact on the innovation landscape in Armenia and strengthening Armenia’s positioning on the global startup stage.

Invest in Armenia, Transform the Future! Join STAN as an angel investor or supporter and contribute your unique knowledge in shaping Armenia’s ambition of becoming a regional startup hub accelerating access of the startups to the global markets through Armenian Diaspora connections.

Written by Ricardo Luz for LinktoLeaders (Portugal) on the 28th of December 2023. 

Recently, for the second time, I was in the Dubai Airshow, together with delegates from almost 100 countries and more than 120,000 visitors, in one of the most important events in the aerospace industry.

I had the honor of being part of the Vista Investor Committee, contributing to the reflection and support of the organization, in defining and carrying out actions aimed at the continuous improvement of VISTA (The East-West Startup Hub), the Airshow’s startup showcase. So that more and more innovative companies can present themselves to investors, testing limits and the future of aviation, in its trends and latest technological innovations.

Airshow, since its founding in 1989, has focused on the conventional aerospace and defense industry. But since 2021, when Amazon Web Services joined the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center to hold a space startup competition at VISTA, space and startups have gradually moved into the spotlight, and are now considered very seriously. If in 2021 VISTA was a little “hidden” in a corner of the huge exhibition hall, and its size was even reduced, in this 2023 edition, having moved to the center of the pavilion with a prominent central stage and large posters, , it became a must! “Aerospace” startups from various geographies joined investors from all over the world for 4 days, to whom they presented their products, services and innovative ideas. Located in the Airshow, VISTA is already, and will increasingly be, a strong platform for startups and scaleups for entrepreneurs, investors, partners and aerospace customers.

In these days of the event, we attended discussion panels and inspiring challenges, we participated in mentoring clinics, and in my case also in almost two dozen of hundreds of meetings between investors and entrepreneurs. All this resulting in valuable networking, through direct contact between the industry and Business Angels and VCs, many of whom are investors specializing in the aerospace sector. There were competitions, where startups – Aerospace, Drones and UAVs, Robotics, Logistics, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Cyber Security, Defense, Travel and Tourism, Hospitality, Sustainability, Blockchain, Cargo, E-commerce, AI, AAM, Software and Space – they were able to connect with potential customers and partners, participate in exclusive networking events and present their solutions to technology leaders, investors and corporate entities in the aerospace ecosystem.

VISTA aims to promote collaboration between actors in the aerospace sector, with the hope that this will result in the creation of lasting partnerships. Space exploration and science are high on the agenda, and emphasis is placed on advancing the technologies that drive the space industry. As expected, special attention was given in the debates to the role of Artificial Intelligence and also to the decisive issue of cybersecurity and its challenges, on land and in space. Fortunately, startups, experts and investors today recognize the enormous importance of finding the best solutions in all these themes. Looking ahead, space initiatives are expected to take center stage in many of the world’s geographies, urging global technology companies to develop innovative and sustainable technologies.

I met dozens of startups, and some scaleups, from all over the world, including Beyond Vision, a company from my Portugal, supported by Nvidia and which produces drones for various purposes, from agriculture to image collection, equipped with 4G and 5G communications, multispectral cameras and Artificial Intelligence algorithms.

Not that I still had any doubts, but I (re)affirmed my belief in the importance of technologically innovative startups and their impact on the present and future of humanity, on earth and in space.

It was also pleasant to participate in the Airshow Gala Dinner at Atlantis The Palm, “served” with excellent music from Maroon 5, and it will be with great pleasure to me continue to contribute with my five cents, together with the excellent team of hosts, to the planning of VISTA, as part of the Dubai Airshow´25.

As I have been doing for many years, within the scope of my activity at Invicta Angels and EBAN, in this and other initiatives, in Portugal and internationally, I will do my best to continue to contribute the best I know to strengthening the early investment ecosystem stage in the North of Portugal and Europe.

Happy New Year of 2024!

 

Adapted from an article written by the author at LinktoLeaders.