Activity Report 2009
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The European Trade Association for Business Angels, eban Seed Funds, and other Early Stage Market Players JPG 352 KO PDF 52398 KO DOC 98914 KO ACTIVITY B C REPORT 2009 EBAN GOLD Sponsors EBAN RESEARCH Sponsor Table of contents EBAN: an introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 A word from the President ................................................................................................................... 4 What is EBAN doing for you? ............................................................................................................. 6 What do our members say? ................................................................................................................ 7 EBAN membership ............................................................................................................................... 7 Full members ................................................................................................................................. 8 Affiliate members .......................................................................................................................... 8 Associate members ...................................................................................................................... 8 Member recruitment ..................................................................................................................... 9 Governance structure......................................................................................................................... 11 Executive Committee ................................................................................................................. 11 Members of the Board ............................................................................................................... 11 EBAN Secretariat as of March 2010 ........................................................................................ 12 EBAN working committees in 2009.......................................................................................... 12 EBAN 5 Pillars of Activities ............................................................................................................... 13 1. Awareness raising .................................................................................................................. 13 Summary of activities in 2009: speeches and presentations ............................................... 13 EBAN Statutory meetings .......................................................................................................... 16 EBAN Events ............................................................................................................................... 16 2. Policy influencing ........................................................................................................................ 18 Relations with the European Administration ........................................................................... 18 3. Benchmarking ............................................................................................................................. 19 External communication ............................................................................................................ 19 Publications ................................................................................................................................. 19 4. Participation in European projects ........................................................................................... 22 European Business Angel Network - Activity Report 2009 Ready for Equity!2 ...................................................................................................................... 22 5. Capacity Building ........................................................................................................................ 23 6. Summary of member services in 2009 ................................................................................... 28 EBAN European Sponsors ................................................................................................................ 29 EBAN Gold Sponsors ..................................................................................................................... 29 EBAN Research Sponsor .............................................................................................................. 29 Extending our reach ........................................................................................................................... 30 Business angels are high net worth individuals investing their own monies and their management/entrepreneurial experience into unquoted high growth potential start-ups. Business Angel Networks (BANs) are national or regional, local, commercial or industry sector organisations set up to promote means of introduction between small and medium sized enterprises and private investors with entrepreneurial experience (business angels). Early stage venture capital and seed funds are those which invest in the equity gap (€500.000 to €3 million), i.e. making a maximum of €3 million investment per company in young innovative SMEs across Europe. 2 European Business Angel Network - Activity Report 2009 EBAN: an introduction EBAN is the pan-European trade association for the early stage investment community. Set up in 1999, and based in Brussels, it reaches out through direct and indirect membership to more than 250 business angel networks in Europe. These in turn federate some 20.000 angels, and receive about 40.000 business plans a year. In 2009, EBAN opened up its full membership to early stage venture capital funds, in an effort to represent all actors involved in bridging the equity gap in Europe. EBAN brings together 103 member organizations and individuals in 28 countries today (figures as of March 15, 2010). Our mission statement is to represent the early stage investment community in Europe. Our members are: • Federations of business angel networks • Business angel networks operating at European, national, and/or regional level • Early stage venture capital funds • Individual business angels • Organisations supporting access to investment in early stage companies. We have 5 key pillars of activity: ‐ Awareness raising: about the importance of early stage investors in filling the equity gap and of business angel networks and early stage venture capital funds in matching innovative companies with capital and mentorship. ‐ Policy influencing: Since 1999 EBAN has established a trusted and continued dialogue with European policy makers to improve the working environment of early stage investors. ‐ Benchmarking: EBAN carries out research on the angel market, on topics such as fiscal incentives, co-investment funds, angel network activity…These publications are available free of charge for our members in the member section of the new EBAN website. ‐ Capacity building: EBAN provides opportunities for its members to get better at what they do by exchanging with peers, having access to tools and templates, privileged participation in partner events, organization of study visits. ‐ Participation in European projects: EBAN has been partnering with other organizations and some of its members in European supported projects which have an impact on the day to day work of its constituency: to build a cross border training curriculum for angels and entrepreneurs (Ready for Equity!), or to help early stage investors make cross border investments (EASY). 3 European Business Angel Network - Activity Report 2009 A word from the President Dear colleagues, When reading this activity report you will, like me, share the excitement of being part of an association whose objective is to grow the business angel and early stage investment sector. We have seen that despite the economic and financial crisis, business angels have continued to invest throughout 2009. Business angels are essential providers of capital and mentorship for high growth start-ups and have played a pivotal role last year in making sure great companies stayed afloat and received the capital they needed to grow. Last year more than ever, financial actors in the early stage investment market felt the necessity to come together to share their experience and best practices. It is therefore no surprise that 2009 saw the biggest growth in membership since the association’s creation. We have reached the milestone of more than 100 member organisations last year from 28 countries! In an effort to represent all actors involved in bridging the equity gap in Europe, EBAN decided to open its full membership to early stage venture capital funds in 2009. It now has 7 funds as members and their contribution is essential to EBAN’s work as trade association for early stage actors. We have also seen a renewed interest from individual angels to join EBAN in order to stay informed about the latest trends in the market, network with peers and find co-investors for great projects. In 2009, we inaugurated new services for our members, among which the organising of a study visit to Silicon Valley and the launch of our new website with exclusive information available to our members. We are delighted to announce that the European Space Agency and their Technology Transfer Programme have become EBAN Gold sponsor in 2009. Our partnership will ensure that our members are aware of the best satellite