ICT Finance MarketPlace

The ICT Finance MarketPlace is an initiative delivered by three EU funded projects (YMIR, ICT VentureGate and ACCESS ICT) which aims to improve access to venture capital and other investment finance for innovative ICT SMEs and ICT research teams across Europe. The initiative facilitates the introduction of SMEs, which are active in EU funded ICT research and looking for financial partners to commercialise new technologies, to business angels, venture capital and to other investors seeking enterprises with innovative projects, which have the potential to become marketable products.

Results of ICT Finance MarketPlace Activities

Successful Participation in 1st Digital Agenda Assembly

During the 16th and 17th of June, 2011, the ICT Finance MarketPlace ran a Venture Academy (VA) and an Investment Forum (IF), in conjunction with the 1st Digital Agenda Assembly, at Autoworld, in the Parc Cinquantenaire, Brussels. The activities took place in the Parc Hotel, close to the main event.

The purpose of the 1st Digital Agenda Assembly was to assess the progress towards achieving the aims of the Digital Agenda for Europe and to plan further concrete actions. The aims of the event were successfully met and over 1,600 delegates participated.

The Venture Academy (VA) took place the 15th June 2011, and consisted on coaching sessions to SMEs/Entrepreneurs, in particular, concerning the presentation of their organisation and project/business idea with the objective of receiving feedback from experts to help them adjust their presentation and to address any fundamental weaknesses or issues that their presentation to investors should cover during the Investment Forum on the following day.
During this event, 13 SMEs/Entrepreneurs received coaching during the VA, and a total of 6 expert coaches, who themselves are also investors, provided valuable advice to the participants. Feedback received from participants at the Venture Academy included:

The Investment Forum (IF) took place the 16th of June 2011 and provided an opportunity for SMEs/Entrepreneurs in the ICT field to present their business ideas and technology to investors thus facilitating their access to finance and in some cases, representing a first step for raising interest in the results of their technology research and initiating discussions with investors to secure funding for specific projects.

The session gathered well-known and respected professionals as keynote speakers & moderators like Dr. Frank Gielen, Director of Incubation & Venturing, from IBBT – The Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology, Mr. Steve Glangé founding Board Member of LBAN – Luxembourg Business Angels Network, Mr. Bernard Louis Roques, Co-Founder & General Partner for Information Technologies at Truffle Capital and Mr. Jean-Marc Soustre, Independent Advisor from HumaEye. These and 20 other expert reviewers composed the panel of investors during the Investment Forum.

The Investment Forum was attended by 18 SMEs who pitched their business plans to investors divided into three groups. During the first day's plenary session of the Digital Agenda Assembly, certificates were awarded by European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, Ms. Neelie Kroes, to three SMEs which made the best presentation to investors. The award winners were: Mr Paul van Dijk, SATRAX B.V., The Netherlands; Mr Leon Dhaene, IDES Technologies, Belgium; and, Mr Patrick Pirim, BVS Brain Vision Systems, France.

Feedback received from participants in the Investment Forum included:

Prior to the start of the Investment Forum, SMEs of the ICT Finance MarketPlace benefitted from presentations by and discussions with a panel of experienced investors on the subject of investment trends. The aim of this session was to give a better understanding of how emerging ICT innovations can more successfully attract Equity Investment.
The panellists were Frank Gielen (IBBT - Interdisciplinary institute for BroadBand Technology), Steve Glangé (Luxembourg Business Angel Network) and Bernard Louis Roques (Truffle Capital).

The ICT Finance MarketPlace cluster was also granted a display area at the Digital Agenda Assembly in which to set up an information stand. The stand was located in a reserved area of the exhibition called "The Networking Forum" and each of the three projects in the ICT Finance MarketPlace cluster was represented on the stand.

Ongoing contacts with SMEs participants in the ICT Finance MarketPlace initiative

YMIR has monitored the effectiveness of the activities, Venture Academy and Investment Forum, during the ICT 2010 event, in order to assess the status of contacts, negotiations or deals between SMEs and investors who met during the ICT Finance MarketPlace activities. 14 of the 18 SMEs participating in the answered the "follow-up questionnaire" which produced the following results.

64% of the responders (9 SMEs) had the opportunity to meet investors interested in their business proposition in the scope of the Investment Forum. The majority of them (44%) met 2 investors. One organisation met 10 investors and continued the discussions with two of them in order to secure an investment. Additionally, 64% of the responding persons had discussions with investors about securing an investment either during and/or after the Investment Forum. However, only 2 SMEs answered that these discussions have concluded (unsuccessfully), while 7 SMEs noted that the negotiation with investors is a procedure which requires a lot of time. Another company, decided to wait a little longer before accepting an investor it remains in touch with potential investors interested in investing in it.

ACCESS ICT's commitment in providing investment readiness to ICT SMEs has resulted in several companies being coached by ACCESS ICT's network of investors and investment experts working pro bono. Companies from France, Germany, Greece, Israel Italy, Spain and the UK on their way to market innovation following their participation in FP6 and FP7 research projects are now receiving one-to-one coaching provided free of charge.

ICT VENTUREGATE together with the support of the ICT Finance MarketPlace is intent on setting up an interactive community of SMEs, investors and coaches with the aim of creating brokerage activities and investor take-up. Since its Budapest event, four SMEs in its network have had discussions with investors.

Access to Finance Toolkit now available to download

A year ago, an access-to-finance toolkit was made available at www.access-ict.com built by Angel Capital Group with the support of EBAN which collected inputs from investment experts and multiple information sources. This tool, first published as an online resource, has been available as a downloadable booklet since June 2011 and provides many first-hand tips from early stage investors such as Brigitte Bauman (CEO of GoBeyond), Dusan Stojanovic (cross-border business angel) and Jean Marc Bally (Aster Capital). The toolkit is available to download at www.ict-finance-marketplace.com.

The ICT Finance Marketplace is targeted to:

SMEs	Highly technological SME’s having participated in FP6 or FP7 ICT projects seeking sources of private investment to commercialise new technologies, products and applications.
Investors	Venture Capital, Business Angels and other private equity firms, interested in getting firsthand information on innovative ideas with great business potential.

Project Consortiums:

ACCESS-ICT
• EBAN - The European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds, and other Early Stage Market Players
• Angel Capital Group on behalf of GLE Group (London)

ICT VENTUREGATE
• Paragon Ltd. (Malta)
• Geonardo Ltd. (Hungary)
• Invent SAS. (France)
• Synbea. (France)
• APRE. (Italy)
• Euro Consultants Ltd. (Israel)

YMIR
• TESEO – Technical Support for European Organisations (Belgium)
• Europe Unlimited S.A. (Belgium)
• INA – Southern Europe Telecommunications & Informatics Research Institute (Greece)
• MentorTec – Serviços de Apoio a Projectos Tecnológicos S.A. (Portugal)
• UNINOVA - Iniciativas Empresariais Inovadoras (Spain)