For the 20th time, the Business Angels Netzwerk Deutschland (BAND) awarded 2020 the “Goldene Nase” with which the “Business Angel of the Year” is chosen. In 2020 prize was given to Nikolaus Bayer.
As part of an event organized by the Angel Network Club “degli Investitori”, Italy selects the best Business Angel every year. Read more about the winner of 2020.
Nikolaus Futter, a graduate of our Certified Business Angel Program in 2018, has been elected to the “Business Angel of the Year 2020”. Read more about “Niki”.
Mag. Alexander Deopito has successfully completed our Certified Business Angel Program (CBA™) 2020 and has been officially certified as a CBA by incite. Read more about the former CEO of Lidl.
Besides our own articles and teaching materials, we have selected some of our favorite books on angel investments and compiled them below.
On the picture in Kitzbühel: Esther Gons, NEXT.Amsterdam, Fabian Greiler and Berthold Baurek-Karlic from the Business Angel Institute and Timan Rebel, NEXT.Amsterdam. Photography by Tom Roschanek.
The Business Angel Institute is launching its established training program for early-stage investors in the Netherlands. The official announcement was released at this year’s Business Angel Summit in Kitzbühel together with our local partner NEXT.Amsterdam, is one of Europe’s top accelerators.
Amsterdam is one of Europe’s leading startup hubs.
NEXT.Amsterdam is headquartered in Amsterdam and will be the primary contact for Business Angels from this region. We are especially happy to launch the program in this city, as Amsterdam almost always ranks as one of the leading startup hubs in Europe. For example, the Startup & Innovation Network StartUs asked more than 700 founders about their favorite place and Amsterdam came out as number 3! Thomas Kösters from StartUs explains this with good access to capital and talent:
Thanks to Amsterdam’s international appeal, the Netherlands have grown the most in Europe due to startup migration, benefiting from a 31% net migration inflow. With relatively low burn rates and good access to capital and talent, Amsterdam has become an irresistible option for entrepreneurs on the search for a new location.
NEXT.Amsterdam was founded by serial entrepreneurs Esther Gons and Timan Rebel, who not only provide hands-on support for their portfolio companies but also own a co-working space. Participants of our training programs will also profit from their vast experience in the corporate environment, which Esther recently published as a co-author in a new book. We will be launching the training program in Q3/Q4 this year in a more compact version.
If you are interested, please give us a hint.
Thorben Schiborowski, CBA successfully completed our training program 2016 and passed the exam as “Certified Business Angel” (CBA) – the world’s first certification of individual business angels (ISO 17024). He officially received the certificate in March 2017 during the European Super Angels Club kickoff event at the Semper Constantia Privatbank in Vienna.
Thorben is a successful entrepreneur and founder of the convent energy GmbH. Since 2008, he developed the company to one of the leading German personnel service providers for the wind energy sector. Today, convent energy has more than 200 employees and generates more than 10m annual revenue. According to the magazine Focus, it is one of the fastest growing companies in Germany.
Thorben Schiborowski (on the left) was awarded with the title “Certified Business Angel”. © Tom Roschanek
In December 2016, Thorben decided to end his active role within the company and handed over the position as CEO. He wants to fully dedicate his time helping new ideas to emerge and transforming them into successful businesses. Through our comprehensive training program, he prepared for his second career as a professional early stage investor. His investment focus is in the smart energy industry, offering founders not only cash but also his vast experience and network.
Thorben lives in Oldenburg, Germany. Before founding convent energy, he worked as a consultant at a personnel service provider and graduated in Business Administration at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg.
If you are a founder looking for investors such as Thorben, we can highly recommend you to apply for the European Super Angels Club – a pan-European co-investment scheme initiated by Venionaire Capital and KPMG Partners.
Incubators and accelerators were the theme of last Wednesday’s event, hosted by the Business Angel Institute in cooperation with Bank Gutmann AG. Incubators and accelerators programs support early stage companies and intend to guide them to future success. The goal of our event was to identify the role of these programs in the Austrian startup scene.
After a warm welcome from Mr. Frank W. Lippitt, partner and chairman of the board of management of Bank Gutmann AG, Berthold Baurek-Karlic (founder and managing partner at Venionaire Capital) introduced to the audience the concepts of accelerators and incubators and shared his personal view on the variety of startup support programs in Austria.
Berthold Baurek-Karlic (left) in talk with Martin Giesswein (Talent Garden Vienna) and Mike Heininger (yodel.io) © Fabian Greiler
Together with Michael Petritz (Partner at KPMG Austria), Arnim Wahls (Founder of Firstbird), Martin Giesswein (Innovation expert and Coordinator of Talent Garden Vienna) and Mike Heininger (Founder of Yodel.io) he discussed the characteristics and benefits of the different types of support programs.
“Being accepted to Seedcamp implies far more than to just getting your first funding. It is rather like being part of a big family. The greatest asset is Seedcamp’s vast network of founders, mentors, and investors”, told Heininger. Seedcamp is a First Round Fund based in London.
Among other topics, the panel highlighted Vienna’s potential to unite European startup initiatives. The city is known for its high quality of startups and is on the rise to become a key player in the European innovation ecosystem. Martin Giesswein emphasized the role of Talent Garden for the Austrian startup scene.
“It is not a surprise that Talent Garden, Europe’s largest co-working network decided to open their new campus in Vienna. The city is known globally for its high standard of living and provides access to the skilled workforce from the CEE region, which possesses strong expertise in the field of computer programming”, said Giesswein.
Michael Petritz (left) and Arnim Wahls. © Fabian Greiler
Arnim Wahls, founder of Firstbird, was selected for the Microsoft Accelerator. A big advantage of the Microsoft program is, that it does not retain shares in the company. In addition, Firstbird benefitted largely from the access to corporate customers. Michael Petritz stressed that European innovation and startup hubs shouldn’t compete against each other, but rather encourage investors to utilize European capital for European business ideas – which is exactly the idea behind the European Super Angels Club.
We welcome our new Certified Business Angel: Thorben Schiborowksi
Following the panel discussion, we awarded Thorben Schiborowski, CBA with the certification for completing the Business Angel Institute Training Program. Thorben is from Oldenburg, Germany, where he founded a company with now over 200 employees and a revenue over 15 Million Euros last year. Last December, he transferred his position as CEO. He joined our training program to prepare himself for his successive career as Business Angel and also passed the exam for the ISO certification as Certified Business Angel (CBA). We are honored to have him as a new member in our CBA Circle!
Business Angel Institute President Dr. Herwig Rollett applauding Mr. Thorben Schiborowski, CBA for successfully completing our training program. © Fabian Greiler
If you are interested in becoming a Certified Business Angel please contact us for more info about the training program.