This is the second part of my mini series focusing on term sheets. The goal is to cover the convertible loan – in general the less commonly used investment method.
In the past five years, seed-stage investing has experienced a boom. In North America, seed funds now represent 67% of all VC funds, up from 33% in 2008. The CEE region is no different: according to European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, the number of seed deals has increased 19x over the past four years. Even considering the fact that EVCA’s data is not fully comprehensive, since many investments are not announced at all or are not made by EVCA’s members, it still illustrates my point
ProSiebenSat.1 Accelerator is a 3-month program to support startups, led by one of the largest media corporations in Europe, ProSiebenSat.1 Media Group. IT provides promising startups with seed funding, mentoring, office space, and access to investors and strategic partners. Although media and entertainment focused startups may have most use of the programme and connections of the Media Group, the call is open to startups from every segment – both B2C and B2B.
Bulgarian LAUNCHub Seed Fund recently announced the start of its new dedicated round for applications for seed funding ending June 9, 2014. The fund's team is now looking for more teams to welcome on board the LAUNCHub family of 41 startups and more than 120 founders.
European startups are able to raise just a fraction of the capital at home compared to their U.S. counterparts. And they receive a lot more value from their investors. Why would I ever fundraise anywhere outside of Silicon Valley?
So I think I figured out the next Facebook and even have an idea where to look for investors. But how do I figure out how much money should I raise and what valuation should I strive for?
Here are the good news: you don’t have to go to the Silicon Valley to get funded. Not even London or Berlin. There is plenty of capital to be found in the CEE. You just have to know where to look. And the bad news: if you know where to look, and still can’t get funding that means your current idea/startup is just not good enough. And if you can’t raise funds in the CEE, the odds are very high you won’t in Berlin or London either. It is better to fail fast and move on to something new.
With brand new iOS application and releases in several European cities, Eventyard, a Bulgarian startup we wrote about a few months ago, gets international presence and opens up a new Seed round for investors.
The leading European startup accelerator, Seedcamp, will be holding its first ever Seedcamp startup event in Budapest. While Seedcamp has been present in Central and Eastern Europe in Ljubljana, Zagreb and Prag, this is the first time it will hold an event in the capital of Hungary - in partnership with the European Entrepreneurship Foundation.
Croatian consulting company DC&T, specializing in creative, efficient, and humane office space design, is setting out to conquer the world markets. First step: Dubai.
