This month Leapfunder turned four! Since the very beginning, we aim to help startups find early-stage financing. We do this by offering support and financial tools, developed with great care. We are already the largest Angel investor network in Europe, and we are determined to extend our geographic footprint and help even more startups raise funding.
Here are four significant things we achieved in the past four years:
1. We’re an established force in the Dutch startup ecosystem
Leapfunder has a crucial role in the Dutch startup ecosystem. Our focus is to make sure that every entrepreneur with a good idea can find his way to good advice and smart capital, in order to optimize their chances of success. We create value by connecting people with highly specialized expertise in ways that had not been imagined before. We routinely handle 30-50 financing events per year, which is unparalleled.
2. Our Investor Round Table sessions are a cornerstone event in both Amsterdam and Berlin
Two and a half years ago we started with the Investor Round Table Sessions in Amsterdam as an experiment. The idea was to connect the right investors to the right startups and build great partnerships.
These monthly sessions have become cornerstone events in both Amsterdam and Berlin. They have an established reputation for bringing together quality investors, and quality startups. The ability for these to meet has significantly boosted the quality and ease of transaction execution.
Thanks to these sessions startup founders can ask investors anything they need guidance with, and investors can find promising new startups. Whether making a match or simply picking the minds of experts, it’s a great occasion for everyone to network.
3. We expanded internationally
This year we went live in Germany, a country with a very mature venture investment ecosystem. Despite its success, a lot of startup investment is still handled through ‘hand-made’ transaction structures. These structures usually lack standardization and are therefore not transparent to beginning or casual investors. Everyone has their own contract and pooling structure.
Leapfunder is building a trust network in Berlin which helps startups raise funding and investors to invest in startups online. These investments can take place at a distance, giving investors from across Germany and internationally, the chance to participate in the startup scene. The Founders Club Germany opened our path towards this.
4. We’re the largest Angel network in Europe
By lowering the boundaries between investors and entrepreneurs and providing access to tools you need to invest online we have quickly become the largest network for Angel investors in continental Europe. That’s even though we are only active in two jurisdictions. We enable small investors to support an idea that they like and bring together a significant starting capital to promising early-stage startups. There is something right about that, and we should expand to more countries soon.
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