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Guest at the European Business Angels Network

The BBA at the EBAN Congress in Thessaloniki

Kiel, May 31th, 2023

The BBA want to continue to position themselves internationally and are therefore establishing contacts with other European networks. So our CEO Julian von Hassell took part in the EBAN’s annual general event.

EBAN (European Business Angel Network) is the European umbrella organization of regional angel networks. Soon the BBA will also be a member.

We were invited as panelists on the topic of deep tech angel and VC investments. For Julian, it was also a trip down memory lane – after all, he had lived in Thessaloniki for several years as a student. Two VC fund managers and the chairman of a tech funding fund from Greece, the chairwoman of the Slovenian network and an Irish VC investor and angel who moderated the panel were Julian’s interlocutors.

Julian’s personal highlights of the congress were:

  1. The „fireside chat“ between New York Angels chairman Mark Schneider and the German ex-head of EBAN Peter Jungen about angel investing in these difficult times. The aged German (born 1939), who has been friends with Mark Schneider for a long time, was mentally fully present. Discussed was the striking similarity of the U.S. and European angel scenes pre- and post-Corona, and the opportunities for syndicated angel investments, which are naturally greater in the larger and more legally homogeneous U.S. market. Implicitly, this shed light on the difficulty of transnational angel investments. Another topic was the lack of hunger of American investors for early-stage European target companies because the local market offers sufficient targets.
  1. The keynote of the Danish inventor of Google Maps Lars Rasmussen, who is married to a Greek woman and lives in Athens and spoke mainly of his many mistakes before he was lucky enough to hit the mark with Google Maps. Resilience and always getting back up pays off.
  1. Julian’s realization that cross border angel investments are an opportunity especially for countries whose small populations and startups force them to expand their deal flow and syndicate transnationally. This is quite common in the Scandinavian-Baltic region, in the Balkans and Austria as well. Our German home market, on the other hand, is so large that we have not been so dependent on such cross-regional syndicates, which have to overcome legal costs/legal hurdles.
  1. DanBAN chairman and founder Jesper Jarlbaek’s presentation on angels network organization: The network founder reported on the management of DanBAN, which was voted the best European angels network for the second time in a row based on hard facts (number of members, transaction volume and volumes).

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Ein lächelnder Mann mit Brille und Bart in Anzug, vor hellem Hintergrund.

Claus Ruhe Madsen

Vorstandsmitglied und Minister für Wirtschaft, Verkehr, Arbeit, Technologie und Tourismus des Landes Schleswig-Holstein​

Claus Ruhe Madsen has been Minister for Economic Affairs, Transport, Labour, Technology and Tourism since 29 June 2022. He was born in Copenhagen on 27 August 1972; he is married and has one daughter.

Lächelnde Frau mit blonden Haaren, die in einem hellblauen Blazer vor einem modernen Hintergrund steht.

Norma Jensen

Commercial Officer

Männlicher Geschäftsmann mit Brille, Anzug und Krawatte, lächelt vor einem unscharfen Hintergrund.

Claas Nieraad

2. Vorsitzender & Screening Officer,
Next Logistics Accelerator GmbH

Claas begann seine Karriere in der Old Economy bei „AEG und Electrolux Group“, wo er seine Leidenschaft für aufstrebende Industrien entdeckte. Das ist es, was ihn bis heute antreibt. Nachdem er bei „American Heritage Management Corp.“ an der Wall Street war und in den 1990er Jahren an den ersten internetbasierten Börsengängen teilnahm, wurde seine Leidenschaft für Technik und disruptive Technologien immer stärker. Er ist Mitgründer von „New Commercial Room“, einem VC-Unternehmen mit Sitz in Hamburg, mit dem er ein Portfolio von High-Tech-Wachstumsunternehmen verwaltet, das von medizinischen Geräten über Medien bis hin zu SaaS, IT und Cybersecurity reicht. Als Angel Investor investierte er sowohl privat in Unternehmen als auch mit dem „btov Investor-Network“. Er betreut aktiv zahlreiche deutsche StartUps, Accelerator-Programme und ist Scout im Norden für den „High-Tech Gründerfonds“ (HTGF). Dadurch hat er Zugang zu erstklassigem internationalen Deal Flow und Investoren. Darüber hinaus hat Claas mehrere Aufsichtsratspositionen inne und ist Live-Musiker mit der „Soul Lounge Connection“.

Ein Mann mit Brille und lächelndem Gesicht, trägt einen dunklen Pullover über einem Hemd.

Julian von Hassell

1. Chairman

As a serial entrepreneur, investor and business angel, Julian has been involved in the German start-up and venture capital scene since 2003. He focuses on helping selected early-stage start-ups and their founders to turn their ambitions into reality. Investments are typically made in early-stage B2B technology companies with an initial track record. Julian’s current focus is on Industrial IoT, data analytics, B2B platform tools, e-health and 3D. He is particularly keen on spin-offs originating from research foundations and organisations or technical universities, but is also open to other opportunities. The best way to find out more about Julian is to visit his Website and here in the Interview.