Angel investors are the most important funders of innovative start-ups in the early stages of a company. But how many angels are exactly active in Europe, how many of them are female? How high is the overall investment sum, what are the averages?
These seemingly easy questions are answered in many ways, while most of the answers do not meet scientific standards. The problem is this: How are you going to collect reliable data in an informal and private market, in which investors do not like to hand out information about the deals they have done. It only works in a scientific accurate manner, when sources and methods are revealed, often showing huge voids and contradictions.
The participant researchers at BAE’s 2nd Conference on Angel Investment Research in Essen, hosted by Business Angels Netzwerk Deutschland e.V. (BAND), all agreed on these premises. In the centre of the discussion was a project initiated by the European Commission, aiming at collecting extensive data of angel investing not only for the 28 EU member states, but for 41 European Countries. Policy Officer Luuk Borg of DG Connect was there to debate the subject with all participants.
“What is demanded within this project is just impossible to deliver,” stated BAE VP for Research and Data, Dr. Ute Günther, “we need to avoid fantasising about data. We need to combine the desirable with the feasible.”
At first research should be improved and also standardized all over Europe. The conference in Essen was a further step in establishing a community of business angel researchers all over Europe with researchers from 15 nations taking part. In short statements, they presented their research agendas and questions, new methods and results.
Final output of the conference was that researchers are very much aware of the problems with unreliable data and will pursue the goal of collecting only comprehensible data, establish new methods and further strengthening their community.Final output of the conference was that researchers are very much aware of the problems with unreliable data and will pursue the goal of collecting only comprehensible data, establishing new methods and further strengthening their community.
To see the agenda of the conference, click here: Final Agenda
You can download the slides here:
Session I:
Dr. Ute Günther – knowing a lot – knowing nothing
Tiago Botelho – Business Angels: a new research agenda
Dr. Helmut Krämer-Eis – Illusion and disillusion: Expectations of policy and market players
Prof. Jörn Block – Using Crunchbase, Twitter, and Techcrunch to identify Business Angel activies
Session II:
Session III:
Dr. Michael Brandkamp – Business Angels in High-Tech Gründerfonds’ portfolio
Mike Wright – A Nation of Angels
Vincenzo_Capizzi – Emerging trends in the Early Stage Financing Industry
Prof Dr. Peter Wirtz, Dr. Christophe Bonnet – Management and governance of Business Angel networks
Dr. Carsten Rudolph – data and facts about angel investments in Bavaria
Prof. Tom Lahti – The Finnish angel investment market
Sofia Avdeitchikova – Regional Impact of the Business Angel Co-Investment Scheme
Berthold Baurek-Karlic – Supporting Research in Angel- and Venture-Finance
Here are some photos of the conference:
