BANN brings start-ups and investors closer together
The Business Angels Network Nijmegen (BANN) organised a meeting on March 8th. The network, set up a few years ago by Briskr, Oost NL, the municipality of Nijmegen, Rabobank and The Economic Board, is increasingly successful in connecting start-ups and scale-ups with investors. The two initiators, Martijn Kriens from Briskr and Bart Heuts from Oost NL, explain why.
No ATM
“A few years ago we started with the Business Angels Network Nijmegen”, Martijn Kriens, program manager at Briskr, begins his explanation. “You can support start-ups in all sorts of ways and this was happening in the region with knowledge and with loans as funding for the early phase. But there was still a lack of risk capital. That is why we started the Business Angels Network. Angels (potential investors, ed.) are very important for start-ups because of their knowledge and experience.”
Bart Heuts, project manager at Oost NL, adds: “Angels are generally prepared to invest amounts of between 50,000 and 250,000 euros in a company to which they often want to actively contribute themselves with both money and knowledge. The latter is very important; angels are not ATMs. They are all former entrepreneurs with a large network and a lot of entrepreneurial experience that they are happy to share.”
After Rabobank, other companies such as BDO and Poelmann Van den Broek soon joined as supporting partners. Through the network of Oost NL in particular, there are about 150 business angels. The network holds a meeting three times a year at which four start-ups or scale-ups are given a pitch each time.
Read the full article on the website of Lifeport (in Dutch).
