International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) signs MOU with WBAF, EBAN, ABAN and MBAN

IASP recently signed an MOU for closer collaboration with the World Business Angel Investment Forum (WBAF), the European Business Angel Network (EBAN) and its sister organisations in Africa (ABAN) and the Middle East (MBAN). With this ongoing collaboration with IASP, EBAN, ABAN, and MBAN; WBAF is delighted to bring more opportunities to the innovative companies based in IASP member parks, helping them to develop and grow their businesses worldwide.

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On 19–20 February 2018, WBAF Annual Conference will meet in Istanbul to shape the global agenda of the early-stage equity markets of the world.

Building on the success of the 2017 World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF), this year’s forum will focus on the theme ‘Unlocking the Potential for Innovation: Angel Investors Partnering with Family Offices and Wealth Management Institutions’. The discussions will explore how family offices and wealth management institutions can foster open innovation and deliver more business value through partnerships with angel investors, start-ups, scale-ups, high-growth businesses and SMEs.

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For the first time ever, the World Business Angels Investment Forum opens its doors to Start-ups, Scale-ups and High-growth Businesses: WBAF Take Invest Summit 2018

On 19 - 20 February 2018, angel investors will come together in Istanbul at the annual meeting of the World Business Angels Investment Forum with the goal of creating new ways for start-ups, scale-ups and high-growth businesses to access finance. At this gathering of angel investors — the biggest angel investment forum in the world — WBAF to give 50 start-ups, scale-ups and high-growth businesses an opportunity to connect with hundreds of highly qualified angel investors from five continents. Application link for entrepreneurs will be online on 15th of July 2017.

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WBAF World Excellence Awards 2018: Applications and nominations

With its Excellence Awards, the World Business Angels Investment Forum looks beyond borders. It seeks to promote and nurture start-ups, scale-ups, high-growth businesses, SMEs, angel investors, and a dynamic business community throughout the world. From business angels to policymakers to academics, the Awards salute those who stand out in imagining, discussing, and shaping the future of an entrepreneurial World. Applications and nominations for the World Excellence Awards can be made online starting 1August 2017.

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EBAN 2016 Statistics Compendium: Overall market size reaches €9.8B!

The €9.8B represents a significant increase over 2015’s €7.5B. The EBAN Statistics Compendium is Europe’s most extensive annual research on the activity of business angels and business angel networks. It provides information on the overall early stage market, on how business angel networks operate and insight into their investment attitudes. EBAN released Early Stage Investment Statistics at the EBAN Malaga Congress. Comprehensive compendium will be released at the end of June 2017. Download the summary of the compendium now.

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Country ranking by market size for 2016 showed the UK, Spain, Finland, Germany and Turkey as the top 5 early stage investment markets of Europe.

EBAN started collecting data in 2000, and has been publishing the statistics since then. Moreover, it is important to point out that the number of respondents differs y-o-y and not all the identified players participated in the survey. Also the survey falls short on accounting for the so called “invisible market”, which represents a consistent portion of overall business angels’ investments. EBAN now collects BA statistics from a record of 35 countries.

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Baybars Altuntas of WBAF Receives the Top European Award

Baybars Altuntas, Chairman of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, has been lauded for the fourth year in a row as Europe's Best Individual in Globally Engaging the Early-Stage Investment Market Within the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. The award was presented at the 12th Annual EBAN Awards, which ran parallel to the 17th annual European Business Angel Congress in Malaga, Spain. The VIP Gala Dinner attracted more than 200 elite business angels and investors from across Europe, Africa, Asia and the US.

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WBAF Chairman Hosted by the Great British Private Investor Summit in London

This year's Summit brings private investors together with leading market experts and the people that matter in the worlds of angel investing, secondary trading, P2P, crowdfunding and early-stage venture capital. The Great British Private Investor Summit is a must-attend event for private investors and alternative investment professionals looking for intelligent, topical comment on the BIG issues affecting the early-stage funding sector in the UK.

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Angel Investor Magazine Now in Croatia!

The World Business Angels Investment Forum publishes the world’s only magazine on angel investment. The aim is to provide a space for global discussions on issues that concern angel investors and stakeholders of early-stage equity markets. WBAF and Leader, Croatia’s leading economy magazine, are now cooperating to publish Angel Investor in Croatia.

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WBAF to Sponsor the UK's No. 1 Conference for VCT & EIS Investors and Advisers

The VCT & EIS Investor Forum is an annual event run by AngelNews, the leading online information on the entrepreneurial investment community. The award-winning VCT & EIS Investor Forum, now in its 8th year, is the only live event in the UK that focuses on bringing hundreds of private investors, family offices, and wealth managers to meet the VCT and EIS fund management community. The World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is proud to sponsor this event on 24 November 2017 in London. This year’s keynote speaker will be John Timpson, CBE, the inspirational CEO and owner of Timpson the UK retail shoe repair chain with over 1,300 shops.

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Exclusive Interview on the Future of FinTech With Dr Soner Canko, CEO of BKM

Soner Canko of BKM says, ‘When we look at the successful models in the world, we see that enterprises that interpret the market correctly and identify the areas where existing structures fall behind, improvement opportunities exist. Those who can offer easy and feasible solutions in these areas stand out. Therefore, we believe that improving financial services, that is, providing more quality services to end users, forms the basis of FinTech, and that enterprises taking advantage of these opportunities and offering quality solutions will be successful’.

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An interview With Anna Longoni, Malaga EBAN Congress Director

‘’I am looking forward to contributing to the success of some European startups building my portfolio, contributing to cross border investments and getting interesting marketing and sales advisory roles in the investee startups. I also hope to be part of a movement engaging more women to tech, and to invest in tech, as in Spain, as in most European countries, less than 10 % of the angel investors are women.’’

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Tuba Terekli, WBAF High Commissioner in Saudi Arabia, featured in Entrepreneur

After spending years around the world looking for the right road-map that would fit the needs of Saudi Arabia and extensive research conducted with Boston Consulting Group under her guidance, she went ahead to establish the first private-sector led entrepreneurship foundation. As of June 2017 the foundation was fully acquired by the SME Authority and the article states the many years of work Tuba spent in spreading the entrepreneurship culture by being the Global Entrepreneurship Week country host, the Middle East host for the Creative Business Cup and the partner for many key entrepreneurship events and competitions. The article also mentions her latest assignment as the WBAF Saudi Arabia Commissioner and what she thinks will become a new era of investments under the formation of more focused angels and is supporting the formation of new laws for FDI.

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