SeedBlink Blog

Looking back at what 2021 has revealed to us makes us so grateful. We fell in love with crowd investing concept because besides backing visionaries and assisting them with one of the strongest tech investors’ communities in Europe, it democratises access for investors to an ecosystem which is not always easy to enter without being a business angel or a big-ticket investor.

The next steps for SeedBlink are a “real footprint” throughout the Balkans, including Athens and Sofia, then Prague, Budapest, Warsaw.

It’s a pleasure to have you next to us in this adventurous journey!

Happy New Year!

Andrei Dudoiu,

Managing Partner & President of BoD, SeedBlink

⚡ MONTHLY DIGEST

Our Alumni Portfolio is getting bigger! This month we welcome Dronamics, Smarthuts and Brunch to the cohort. They have been successfully backed by our investor community and will benefit from our ongoing support and network.

Working in a tech startup with big ambitions is an exciting journey. We help startups in raising more than just capital, and we are happy to see that the Alumni Portfolio Jobs brings lots of opportunities and job openings. Look over the open jobs and feel free to refer someone or share the blog post with your network.

🥢 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

This year, Europe surpassed China in terms of the number of unicorns. Dealroom.co and Sifted have released a new report on the state of European startups, emphasizing the role of startups in the greatest tech boom in history.

31% of unicorns from Central and Eastern Europe are bootstrapped, becoming clear that resilient talent in CEE has thrived in the absence of access to more mature private capital markets. Discover how European technology is becoming increasingly decentralized in the latest "The State of European Tech 21" report.

When it comes to business success, most founders will agree that timing is everything. What fewer people discuss is how important location can be. Not every business idea is born in the right market; in some cases, the right company may be developed in the wrong location.

21 different European countries have given birth to unicorns, and the next one could come from anywhere. The next two years will be critical for Europe's tech players, with the wind at their backs. The ability of Europe's public and private sectors to collaborate will be a critical success factor. Sifted's most recent report attempts to answer the question: Has there ever been a better time in Europe to establish a startup or scale?

💡 INFLUENTIAL BOOKS FOR BUSINESS AND LEADERSHIP

It's still the season for reinventing oneself. The start of the new year means making new promises to ourselves and, more importantly, reflecting on what we want out of the year ahead. If you want to gain an advantage in business next year, go all in by investing in a good book that provides concrete advice on how to achieve your goals. TechCrunch has compiled a gift guide of the best business books recommended by VCs for 2021.

Reid Hoffman is a LinkedIn co-founder, a leading Silicon Valley investor, and the host of the award-winning podcast Masters of Scale. The iconic tech entrepreneur turned his podcast into a coherent book, Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs. The book includes over 100 interviews with successful founders and executives and provides a one-of-a-kind insider's guide filled with insights and strategies that will inspire you to reimagine how you do business today.

🚀 COMPETITIONS TO BOOST YOUR STARTUP

Nextcelerator - The Digital Agriculture Hub is your ticket to digitize & streamline agriculture in Central & Eastern Europe. Agricover, SeedBlink & Microsoft team up to identify the leading start-ups with breakthrough innovations in the AgriTech sector and provide them with industry knowledge, adequate technical and business resources, and community support to scale their ideas into successful businesses with global impact.

****Register here. Deadline application: February 21st, 2022.

NMA.vc provides a six-month tailor-made accelerator program for scalable companies that bring innovation to the financial industry (Fintech, LegalTech, Insurtech, RegTech) and are looking to expand into international markets.

****Register here. You can join the program at any time during the year.

Grow F Startup Accelerator is a 3-month online accelerator program that supports highly innovative and scalable female-led ventures.

****Register here. Deadline application: January 20th, 2022.