Dear Reader,
I hope you had a good Easter break. With the holidays now behind us, the EASY Project team is gearing up for our next event in Barcelona in the middle of April. We do hope to see you there! The EASY Project has been underway for 18 months now and we are particularly excited about the Barcelona event as there are now clear indications of the positive effect we are having on pan-European early stage investment. As you will see below three pan-European deals have now closed as a result of the EASY Project.

You will see from the articles in this newsletter that the EASY Project has been having quite an impact on early stage investment in the EU. We regularly gather together over 150 angels and early stage venture capitalists in one place at one time. These are probably some of the largest gatherings of investors in the region. These investors have the opportunity to see pitches by upto 22 high quality companies from across Europe. We believe it simply would not be possible for investors to see this variety of opportunities in any other way.

They will have another opportunity in Barcelona to see some of the best entrepreneurial companies today. An added benefit is that these companies will have been brought to investment readiness thanks to the hard work of the EASY Partners. Our hopes are high that more pan-European deals will be struck as a result of the Barcelona Investment Forum.

In this newsletter we have lots of news about the EASY Project and the EASY Partners. We have analysed the companies that have been presenting at the various EASY Investment Forums which has shown the wide spread of regions and sectors where great investment opportunities can be found.

Following the Milan event in February, we have interviewed Paolo Anselmo, head of IBAN one of the EASY Partners, and we also have an article describing why the Italian venture capital association AIFI has thrown its weight behind the EASY Project.

Keep an eye out for the new EASY toolkits which will be on available from our website from [DATE]. You can also use our website to register for the Barcelona Investment Forum by clicking on this link http://www.easyinvestmentforum.org/Barcelona.aspx.
If you want to find out a bit more about the event before you register click on this link:
http://www.earlystageinvestors.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=30.

We hope to see you in Barcelona on 21st April.

Anthony Clarke

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Early February saw over 150 angel and venture capital investors fly into Milan, perhaps the original home of enterprise finance. Milan, built on the success of trading and financing by the Sforza and other great banking and trading families in the 14th and 15th centuries, was a particularly good place to hold the fourth EASY investment event, where 22 companies from four key sectors pitched for investment.

Accompanying them were 15 younger, but equally innovative companies who participated in a parallel investment marketplace exhibition at the Conference Centre of the Palazzo delle Stelline on 25th and 26th February 2008.

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At the recent EASY Investment Forum in Milan, the Italian private equity and venture capital association, AIFI publicly threw its support behind the EASY Project. We spoke to Carlo Ferrario, President of AIFI’s Venture Capital Commission, about why AIFI is so supportive of this initiative.

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One of the most interesting things about early stage investing is that angels and venture capitalists can find valuable opportunities in the most unusual of places or sectors. This serendipity is what makes early stage investing so exciting. For the EASY Project, we have all been waiting eagerly to find out which of the companies would be the first to receive funding and it has come as no surprise that the first three deals have been in companies from totally different sectors!

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Interview with Paolo Anselmo

President of IBAN

1. You must be delighted that the EASY Project has hosted an event in Milan. Please could you tell us why you offered to host an event in your country?

Yes we were delighted to hold the first Easy Investment Forum of 2008 on 25th and 26th February in Milan, especially as it was such a successful event. 22 companies came from across Europe to present their own entrepreneurial projects at our pitching session and more than 150 real investors came to see them!

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How did you become an angel investor?

Well I started years ago as an entrepreneur and Zernike Group gave me a lot of help. Then later on I started getting involved with backing start-ups. Last year they invited me to the EASY investment forum in Helsinki which I very much enjoyed.

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We asked John Tidmarsh of Venture Capitalist group E-synergy what he thought of the Milan EASY investment forum.

1.Why did you decide to come to the EASY event in Milan?

In part out of curiosity, in part because I want to develop my views on the value of angel investor networks in helping to plug the management skills gap that is a weakness in European early stage venture investment.  I also believe that the future lies in a more integrated relationship between angel and venture investors – much like the Scandinavian model.

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One of the most dynamic areas for angel investment has always been breakthroughs in treatment of disease and ill health. The medical sector, ranging from biotechnology to instrumentation has long been a popular target for angel investors, as the big winners tend to sell for tens, if not hundreds, of millions of Euros. The teams that judge which companies will have the opportunity to present at one of the EASY Investment Forums are therefore always on the lookout for the new hot medtech businesses. Over the last three EASY meeting 19 of the 66 companies that have presented are planning to build mega businesses in this sector. In fact, this is the single most popular sectors of any that have been represented by companies pitching at the investment meetings.

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The EASY Project was established to bring together the different financing stages and players in venture capital and angel investing in the EU with early stage innovating businesses requiring funding. In particular, has a target to address issues such as the lack of investment readiness amongst entrepreneurial high growth potential companies, the shortage of investors willing to invest in such companies and the need for investors to build networking strategies that will build the capacity of the investment market.

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For pan-European angel investing to really take-off, it is vital that the best opportunities are found for investors, wherever the companies may be based. Therefore it is very satisfactory that recent analysis undertaken by the Project team has revealed that companies from across Europe have presented over the last nine months.

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The beta version of the EASY toolkits has now been tested by many people and the necessary modifications are being made. One of the key recommendations was that the Toolkits should be available as an online resource at the EASY website www.earlystageinvestors.org. This resource will be made available to the public at the Barcelona EASY Investment Event.

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Venue: CCIB, International Conventions Centre of Barcelona

EASY Barcelona partners are pleased to announce that the Spring 2008 EASY Investment Forum will be held in Barcelona, Spain.

This important cross- border event aimed at the early stage investment market is being hosted by 22@, BANC and HGP. The event will be included in the local annual Investment Forum organized by CIDEM (Centre for Innovation and Business Development of Catalonia) , giving it an international scope.

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GLE and NESTA the British EASY partners, are glad to announce that the summer EASY Investment Forum of 2008 will be held in London, on the 26th and 27th of June.

More details of the event will be published soon

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At NESTA’s event, The EU: A Collaborative State? in early January, Yannis Pierrakis profiled The EASY Project to an audience of over 70 people. The audience included representatives from EU countries gathered together to consider how different countries are working together to stimulate the exchange of ideas and entrepreneurial activity; and where challenges and opportunities exist for more effective collaboration. A podcast of the event can be downloaded HERE

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The theme of this year's Congress is Business angel investing: Entrepreneurial Capital for the 21st Century. The 3rd Award Ceremony will take place on the evening of the first day during a Gala Dinner. Aiming at celebrating the most promising achievements in the European informal venture capital, the Ceremony will be animated by Richard Lewis, one of the world’s most renowned inter-culturalists and linguists.

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Take a look on EASY website about a list of interesting events for investors around Europe, so click HERE

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In order to finance and stimulate innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the European Commission has proposed measures to boost cross-border investments of venture capital funds. Up to now venture capital funds, which are vitally important for the financing of growing innovative small companies, face too many problems to overcome different national regulations for cross-border fundraising and investment. For this reason they often don't reach the necessary critical mass. Therefore the European Commission advocates a broad partnership with and between Member States to work towards mutual recognition of the current national frameworks for venture capital funds.

To read more click HERE

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GIF is one of the financial instruments available under the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) and GIF 1 concerns seed and start-up funds and possibility for the EIF to invest in funds supported by business angels. The link to the publication in the Official Journal is HERE

For more information: www.eif.org or cip.venturecapital@eif.org

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The study, carried out by the Barcelona Institute of Economics (IEB) and the University of Barcelona (UB) has been published.

The study shows manifest economic dynamism in Poblenou: since 2000, when the 22@Barcelona project began, more than 1.000 new companies have settled in the district, creating almost 32.000 new jobs. This positive data makes the 22@Barcelona project one of the main motors of the city’s growth.

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...on the impact of the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Venture Capital Trusts on company performance.

HM Revenue & Customs has published a report on the impact of two significant practical policies aimed at addressing the perceived market failure in the provision of sufficient amounts of risk capital for smaller and younger UK companies with growth potential. The full report can be read at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/report44.pdf.

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