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Catalyst Romania II invests 1.2 million Euro in SeedBlink, as the lead investor of the 3 million Euro Series A financing round.
• Vision: to shape Europe’s tech investments future, with expansion into EU starting in the second half of 2021. • Democratize the access to investing in innovative, private tech companies from Europe. • Pekka Mäki and Ted Cominos join the Seedblink Board of Advisors.
Catalyst Romania Fund II – one of the most important VC funds in the region, having Marius Ghenea as Managing Partner – joins SeedBlink’s endeavor to expand into EU and to support the tech start-up ecosystem, by investing 1.2 million Euro as the lead investor in the Series A 3-million-Euro round.
SeedBlink – the investment platform with the highest growth in Europe had already collected, as part of this Series A round, 1.1 million Euro in record time, at the end of May, via equity crowd funding on its own platform. The rest of the financing came from Catalyst Romania Fund II and other local and international investors. The transaction was assisted by Stratulat Albulescu Attorneys at Law.
“_Catalyst Romania has a proven track record of successfully investing in tech companies and playing an active role within the portfolio companies towards great exits. SeedBlink has the potential to remove the traditional barriers of the financing process, both for investors and for many innovative tech start-ups, across Europe. Platform & market growth will create the opportunity for much more participants – entrepreneurs & retail investors – to benefit from this democratization of the equity investment process. We’re excited to support SeedBlink’s team towards the achievement of this mission_” declared Marius Ghenea, Managing Partner Catalyst Romania.
Vision: expansion into European Union starting Q3 2021
SeedBlink’s vision is to shape Europe’s tech future by building an investment platform blending the audience of the crowd, the flexibility of the angels, and the structure offered by a VC.
SeedBlink’s Board of Advisors, led by Radu Georgescu, welcomes two new members: Ted Cominos Jr., a Chicago based corporate lawyer with more than 20 years of M&A, cross border, and private equity/venture capital experience, and Pekka Mäki, Managing Partner 3TS Capital Partners, who brings a lot of expertise in venture capital and equity crowdfunding, and is passionate about Europe’s tech investment outlook.
“_We democratize the access of the individuals to private investments in start-ups, aiming to offer them the best tools for managing the portfolio strategy, and the infrastructure needed to present them with the same advantages and best practices from the venture capital world. This financing round confirms the trust gained by our vision to accelerate the tech innovation in Europe by supporting the entrepreneurs with “smart money_” said Radu Georgescu, Chairman of the Board, SeedBlink.
Remarkable results during the first 19 months of activity
With a community of 6.000 investors from 15 countries, SeedBlink launched 47 financing campaigns in the last 19 months, with companies headquartered in 5 different countries. This way, it helped many tech start-ups (including the SeedBlink own platform) to raise investments exceeding 21 million Euro from private individuals and VC funds, with 49% of the amount via equity crowdfunding.
About SeedBlink
SeedBlink is the tech start-ups investment platform with the highest growth in Europe in regard to the collected amounts and the number of investors. The company aims to democratize the investment process by combining the visibility of the crowdfunding, the flexibility of the business angels, and the expertise offered by the VCs, in an online platform.
SeedBlink is the fastest growing investing platform specialized in sourcing, vetting, financing, and scaling European tech start-ups. The company aims to simplify the investment process for retail and accredited investors by combining crowd reach, business angel flexibility, and Venture Capital expertise, all in one internet platform. SeedBlink's booming investors community and the selection of start-ups are at the core of the platform's success, along with optimized portfolio diversification through thesis-aligned matching and engagement tools. For more information, please visit www.seedblink.com
About Catalyst Romania
Catalyst Romania is a leading venture capital investor in Romanian technology companies that have the potential to become regional leaders or global challengers. Catalyst Romania was the fund manager who raised the first Romanian venture fund backed by the JEREMIE Romania initiative in 2012. The team, comprising of Marius Ghenea, Alin Stanciu, Jozsef Kover, Alina Georgescu and Antonela Dragomir, will continue to primarily target investments in high growth sectors including Technology & Internet, Media & Communications and Technology-Enabled Services. Catalyst Romania is supported by 3TS Capital Partners, which serves as an extension of the Catalyst team and provides international expansion support for portfolio companies in Europe and the US. For further information, please visit www.catalystromania.com.
About JEREMIE
JEREMIE Romania is a set of financial instruments initially supported from Romania’s structural funds during the programming period 2007-2013. Following the end of the programming period, EIF continues to act for and on behalf of the Government of Romania to manage the resources returned from the initial implementation under a new agreement signed in September 2020.
About EIF
The European Investment Fund is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro and small and medium-sized enterprises through access to finance. The EIF develops venture capital and growth instruments, guarantees and microfinance instruments, which specifically target this market segment. Through its role, the EIF promotes EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth and employment.
About InnovFin Equity Programme
The InnovFin Equity programme - managed by the EIF - is part of “InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators”, an initiative launched by the European Commission (EC) and the EIB Group in the framework of Horizon 2020. InnovFin Equity provides equity investments and co-investments to or alongside investment funds, focusing on companies in their early stages of development, operating in innovative sectors covered by Horizon 2020. The aim is to develop an extensive portfolio of funds, mobilizing EUR 4-5bn of investments in businesses established or active in the EU and Horizon 2020 Associated Countries
PublishedJuly 08, 2021
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Tudor Goicea
Co-founder of Aqurate
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As a startup founder, I am happy to witness SeedBlink’s dedication to expanding their support for early-stage companies beyond funding, towards a healthy equity management via Nimity. A solution to help better navigate relations with stakeholders, employees and future investors is needed in Europe. Less admin work and bringing transparency to the cap table are immediate benefits I was able to test.
Delia Iliasa
Managing Partner
SanoPass
SeedBlink is a transparent solution that connects entrepreneurs with great business plans, with investors, at different stages in their development. It is a great tool for us, a democratization of access to funding, I would say.
Ioan Iacob
Founder
FLOWX.AI
We really loved the SeedBlink journey. We reached our fundraising goal within hours of launching. About 100 investors joined our vision and invested almost $2 million in FLOWX.AI through the Private Deal Room. At the same time, working with SeedBlink to prepare for the funding round was an excellent exercise for our entire team, and we received and felt the support from the SeedBlink team members who took on an advisory role.
Dan Vidrașcu
CEO
VOXA
SeedBlink made the (investment) process run smoothly. We appreciate all the support SeedBlink's professional team has provided.
Tinu Bosinceanu
Founder and CEO
Upgrade Education
It's important to look for and choose a platform that you resonate with, that shares your mission with, a platform & its people with which you feel you can have good working relationships. we got an excellent relationship going forward; we talked a lot and we were in touch on a lot of matters and I think this was important. Having people who believe in your idea is of great help.
Kimmo Rytkönen
Founder and CEO
Income
Running the financing round was like any other fundraising; we had to be active in our community as well as in SeedBlink's investor community. After the launch, everything happened very quickly, and SeedBlink organized several pitch events for investors, which we found very useful for the round momentum.
Svilen Rangelov
Founder and CEO
Dronamics
We immediately clicked with the SeedBlink team as their fundraising expertise was immediately obvious and their no-nonsense approach really appealed to us. After all, fundraising is only a means to an end, and we liked how the SeedBlink team was really focusing on supporting us and on getting things done.
Mihai Darzan
Founder
Procesio
Our main expectation has been to raise the amount we were aiming for, and both rounds launched on Seedblink exceeded our targets, so we’re very happy with that! Even though the launched funding campaigns have been purely crowdfunding rounds, we are thrilled to actually receive extra support from some of the investors, who have chosen to get involved and help us generate product awareness, whenever they can.
Catalin Mester
Founder
Voxa
I am recommending SeedBlink without hesitation, to every founder that raises capital, especially early-stage tech startups. SeedBlink is a crowd investment platform that will also provide their startup with visibility, for Angels and VCs.
Dragoș Iliescu
Founder and CEO
Brio
In the early stages, we have been funded by several early (angel) investors, and one and a half year ago through an equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedBlink. Of course, this impacted our growth in many positive ways, partly due to the cash influx that, evidently, was sorely needed, but in a larger part due to the fact that our responsibility towards our shareholders has become more stringent and explicit, becoming embodied in our market approach.
Costin Tudor
Co-founder and CEO
Undelucram
Given the accelerated growth we observed at the end of last year and the beginning of 2021, we want a new capitalization, quickly. This is a bridge round that we will use for one year, and the advantages that SeedBlink offers are the speed at which we were able to list for financing and the experience that we gain as a result of this public listing, similar to a listing on the stock exchange.
Diwaker Singh
Co-Founder & CEO
Crikle
As a platform that only serves technology ventures, SeedBlink can connect the start-up with more than just money. SeedBlink investors are primarily technocrats who understand the objectives of the fundraising company and are also able to post-funding contribute with business opportunities. The minimum investment threshold, and technology focus, differentiates SeedBlink from other fundraising platforms. A perfect fit for a technology start-up seeking intelligent funding.
Florin Stoian
Co-Founder & CEO
Milluu
SeedBlink boosted our brand exposure and facilitated the financial support we were seeking. Having a campaign on the platform allowed us not only to meet a team of professionals - that guided and helped us prepare the necessary materials - but also opened doors for increasing our brand awareness and have discussions with VCs & angel investors we have never reached before. This campaign gave us the encouragement we needed to push the product further, while the record-breaking fundraising (only 2 hours from the launch of the campaign!) was a great confirmation that our product is needed in this market and that we should continue innovating.
Raluca Jianu
CEO & Co-founder
Epic Visits
SeedBlink has created a vital ecosystem for startups at the beginning of their journey by equipping entrepreneurs with expertise, encouraging honest and sometimes uncomfortable but necessary discussions about risks and vulnerabilities through a suite of tools, and facilitating connections with investors who share the founders' vision and can contribute to their success. I have greatly appreciated the constant support of Eric and the entire team at all stages of the campaign. Thank you so much!
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