We’re looking for dual partners from Germany or Austria for our project proposal CE-Connector that will be submitted to the 3rd call of Interreg Central Europe.

Project proposal is targeting the following problems:

1. Financial gap between 3Fs / single BA and VC, which is usually in CEE from euro to euro for single investment round to the start-up
2. Fragmented, lower mature Business Angels ecosystems in comparison to the leading markets like or US in the terms of quantity (number of BAs) and quality (knowledge of investing)
3. Governmentally led financial investment schemes (GFIS) often fails due to inadequate approaches to information asymmetries ( ineffective due diligence) and policy implementation. This has occurred through too much government control with investment decisions made by bureaucrats rather than experts (Lerner, 2002), their inappropriate investment focus (size of investment, sector, geography) and insufficiently skilled local investment managers

The solution, proposed by the project, is the development of Ce-Connectors ACIFs (Angel Co-investment funds) in participating territories with aim to:

1. to address the current potential high growth SME finance gap, which is identified between 3Fs (founders, friends, family) / Single business angel and VC (Venture Capital) in the amount from euro to euro ;
2. to increase the number of territorial  business angels and raise their investing competence through disseminating best practice submitted to the 3rd call of Interreg Central Europe. The proposal aims to build knowledge and linkages among Business Angels and Public actors territorial ecosystems to close the financial gap for innovative start-ups.

We are searching for:

     1)   Ecosystem partner, preferably with experiences from equity financing. Partners should be able to prove management abilities of co-funds in later stage. As the type, they can be: innovation center, regional development agency, association ;

     2)   Public partner (National / regional Public administration) with developed supportive infrastructure to offer 25% investment through voucher scheme.

     3)   Business Angel network (as ASP) – organization bringing together Business Angel at regional or national level. Also EBAN should be valuable ASP member. Their role is to ensure the best possible synergies with the ecosystem of the Business Angels in the territory.

In case of interest, please write to:

 Entrepreneurship and SMEs

 Innovation

 Start Up