The amount of startups receiving funding has rocketed from 50 companies and 3.5M in 2011 to 435 companies and 36M in 2018. In total over 2000 companies have received close to a quarter of a billion in business angel funding in the past eight years. Over 80% of these investments have been done in syndicates. From 18 founding angels to over 670 angels, FiBAN is now one of the largest and most active business angel networks in the world.
As the decade is coming to an end, so begins the 10th year of operations for FiBAN. Looking back on the progress that has been made, one cannot but be proud of what our members, partners, the startup ecosystem, and the FiBAN office has achieved. The amount of services and reach has grown steadily. In the past year alone, FiBAN Follow has been launched, our deal flow tool upgraded, FiBAN Academy has been brought online, our partner collaboration strengthened, the largest business angel gathering in Europe was brought to Helsinki and much more. Not to forget valued services such as credit rating protection, FiBAN Pitch Finland, investment contracts and templates and international study trips.
Now, we are turning our focus towards the future and what the next 10 years will bring. Although we’ve come far, we are not nearly ready and there is still a lot to improve. Our goals and ambitions for the future will be to improve our services and effect through four key areas: professionalism, impact, diversity and digitalization. These efforts will lead to our members being more educated and better equipped to invest, a larger pool of experienced lead angels, better diversity in all aspects, a more digitalized network with stronger tools and models – to name a few.
2020 will be a year of celebration which will culminate in a 10 -year Gala in December 2020. In addition to the ageing festivities, there are several more reasons to raise a toast, such as for the courage to invest in and the belief in the prospects of new innovations and startups. As the cliché goes: there is strength in numbers. Be those numbers in terms of growth, revenue, investors or candles on a birthday cake.