Enterprise Ireland is a sponsor of the 14th annual EBAN Congress taking place in May 2014. Hosted by HBAN, the congress will bring the European business angel community to Dublin. It is Europe’s largest angel event and the second biggest in the world.
The conference will be held in Dublin Castle on 19th to 20th May and will be attended by up to 350 delegates. It is forecast to bring in a minimum of half a million euros in revenue to Dublin, over the course of the two-day event.
The EBAN Annual Congress is the most significant event in the European business angel calendar. International investors and business angels, including some of the leading “super-angels”, along with venture capital firms and early stage fund managers, will come together to discuss the European business angel landscape, how to support and grow it and most significantly to share their knowledge and experience of investing.
According to the most recent research carried out by EBAN, the European business angel market is continuing to grow, with €5.1 billion invested by business angels in Europe in 2012, a 19% growth in comparison to 2011.
Across the island of Ireland, in 2013 alone, business angel syndicates and networks invested €8M in 50 early stage businesses, with an additional €18M raised from other sources such as seed venture capital funds, Enterprise Ireland and other private investors.
Since 2005, Enterprise Ireland has provided direct financial support to a number of initiatives aimed at improving the overall Angel funding environment in Ireland. Enterprise Ireland recognises the critical role that Business Angels play in the start-up ecosystem and will continue to work with the Angel community to ensure its clients can access this invaluable source of capital and expertise.
The EBAN Congress 2014 is being sponsored by Eversheds, Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland, all of whom will be attending the conference to discuss insights on the Irish start-up and entrepreneurial market. The Irish Business Innovation Centres (BICs), Invest Northern Ireland and Fáilte Ireland are also supporting this important event for Business Angel investment.
Registration details for the EBAN Congress 2014 can be found here.