The closing gap

Good news! The funding gap is closing – well if you believe everything you read that is.

The equity gap, a financial market gap identified as €250.000 to €2.5 million across Europe, is being addressed and by the ever increasing activity of Business Angels. The number of business angel networks has more than doubled in the last ten years. Coupled with the training of entrepreneurs to receive such funding, such as our Investor Readiness Programme, research in both the US and Europe shows that business angels are the most important source of funding for the seed and start-up phases of enterprises.

However, The European Business Angels Network (EBAN) has issued a White Paper entitled “Stimulating the European informal venture capital market: The contribution of business angels to the EU strategy for growth and jobs” which calls for yet more action to plug the gap. The business angel market in Europe is estimated at €1,5 billion, ten times less than that in the US so we still have some catching up to do!

Here in Yorkshire, The Viking Fund has made a huge difference to technology companies looking for finance and is a good example of how business angels fill the gap.

Science Business has some interesting comments on the white paper and you can see the full report here