South East Angels

By co-investing Mozaic Investors is increasing the chances for each stakeholder to gain from being part of the syndicate. Investors gain by diminishing the high risk related with investing in new ventures and by increasing their portfolio diversity by being exposed to high reward opportunities. Startups gain from the opportunity to raise money in underserved markets where venture capital is limited and in very early stages of the company. They also gain from the vast network of experts and successful entrepreneurs that are part of the syndicate thus increasing the potential on the investment with the smart money. Mozaic is a response to a couple of important problems that the startup ecosystem in Moldova and in the region is facing. The Investors Perspective. Lack of startup investing knowledge: Investors, especially in Eastern Europe, are not used to invest high-risk capital with the awareness that they can lose everything invested and the understanding that they have to keep the founders motivated enough because they are the ones developing the products thus investors should take only a small share of equity. High-risk investing alone: Not having a validation process for the startups usually leads to risky bets that investors take. The limited deals they are exposed to, contribute to decisions when they chose only from what they can evaluate. Not knowing other investors that can share the risk with them decrease the performance of their investments, thus not incentivizing the investors to keep investing. Lack of legal framework: The high cost of legal work regarding an investment makes investors to restraining investing in startups. Unclear rules, unprivileged legislation for investors are not something that an investor can change alone. There should be a common action and suggestions made to the legislative body. Lack of startups deal flow: Diversifying the portfolio require an increasing number of investible startups to choose from. An individual investor has no time and means to know all the startups there are in the ecosystem that are looking for investment thus exposing himself only to the direct approaches. The Startups Perspective. Lack of venture capital: By venture capital we are referring to alternative financing when startups are raising capital from private investors where no other financial institution are ready to finance the initial ideas and startups. Traditional financial institutions usually require more financial data, guarants or other indicators that a newly formed entity simply do not have. Thus founders are unable to support the developing teams and launch the products. A venture capital is not a loan and investors are aware that they can lose it. Also the founders are not tied to reimburse it the in case of failure, thus incentivising more founders to work on more ambition and rewarding projects not putting themself and their families in debt. Founders not owning the company: By investing the most of the money or all the money in the startup traditionally is expected the investor to have the majority of the social capital and voting rights on the matters regarding the activity of the company. This fact is not helping the founder to feel that he is in charge of the company thus he is losing motivation and is not engaged enough to achieve the company’s goal. Lack of smart capital: By accessing the capital from investors, founders also gain the access to investors that are experienced entrepreneurs and connected people that can advice or introduce the founders to potential clients. Ethical money: By promoting the highest standards of ethics throughout the investment cycle, the investors must act with integrity and respect while dealing fairly and objectively with the founders. The ambition is to help early stage companies become industry-defining and sustainable businesses. The Ecosystem Perspective. Not fully functional ecosystem: By covering to a good degree the other components of the startup ecosystem like Infrastructure (coworking, prototyping facilities) and Knowledge (know-how, conferences, events) there is a lack in continuity and sinergy in startup creation process. Not having the Capital and Legal components of the startup ecosystem makes the other components unproductive. Startups looking to other countries or even moving to pursue their goals. High levels of uncertainty: Startup world is known by having a high dose of uncertainty, but by adding to this the fact that founders do not know how they will finance their startups or the next steps in scaling, they have anxieties that keep them from starting in the first place.

We democratize angel investing by giving you access to deals, lower the barrier to enter, and build confidence through education & peers. Pitch your Start Up Our focus is early-stage startups in Asia Pacific across all verticals. We invest in pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds. We are strong advocates of female leadership. Having at least one woman on your executive team is required. We invest up to 200K USD per company. We know building a company is not easy. We support startups teams with capital, knowledge, mentorship, a global network and we take board seats. Our angels are executors. We roll up our sleeves to support our investments with further growth and scaling. Above all, we invest in people. We invest in founders who refuse to die. Founders who choose agility over ego. FAQs Got a question? We've got answers. Do you only invest in women? We invest in startups and founders with potential, no matter whether it is a woman or a man. Although at least one of the executive team members should be a woman. We actively scout startups with female founders. At least 75% of our portfolio companies are women-led. What is the average investment amount? As a collective, we invest up to 150K USD per startup through syndication. This allows each investor to join with amounts as low as 5K USD. You decide per startup whether you want to invest or not. Is there a fee to join? Not yet. The first three months are free to join. We meet once a month where you discuss the deals on the table, and you will have full access to all deals. After three months, you decide whether you want to continue or not. The annual fee is SGD 750. I have no experience. Can I join? Absolutely! Every month, new angel investors join our network, both seasoned investors and newbies. You will see you have way more to contribute than you might think. We meet every month, and we have onboarding sessions to educate you on the basics. Check the 'Education' tab on this page to find more resources. I am a man. Can I join? Sorry guys, Epic Angels is for female investors only. We all read about the funding gap. Currently, only 2% of venture capital goes to women-led startups despite it being well-established that gender diversity leads to higher financial returns. Instead of trying to convince men to invest in these female founders, we believe the solution is to create more female investors.

We’re here to back individuals who dare to be different and in innovation that pushes the boundaries of possibilities. Our story from seed to treeThe seed: In 2011, Aly El Shalakany and Hossam Allam founded the Cairo Angels, which was Egypt and Africa’s first angel investment network. The idea was simple - to bring together a group of mission driven investors to invest and support founders to build technology businesses right here in our region in order to have a positive impact on our societies The sprout: It was tough going at first and there were plenty of naysayers. There were too few of us trying to do too much. The seedling: Once you have a few wins under your belt, belief can be quite infectious. As the number of our investments grew, so did the number of founders building exciting new startups, which brought more and more investors to our community. Before we knew it, the perception of startups and investing in startups was changing all around us and a virtuous cycle began to take hold. The sapling: As we started making returns for our investors, we started to think to ourselves - what more can we be doing? How can we have more impact? Programs. Check. Partnerships. Check. Events. Check. Launch of our first fund. Check. The tree: Today, we look back at the last decade and think to ourselves - that was fun, where did the time go? But ten years is nothing in the life of a tree; we’re just getting started. We have places to go and people to see. We are the Acasia tree. Our PhilosophyFirst believers: We love to be the first folks outside of friends and family (and fools!) to back exceptional founders to build enduring companies. Founder-focused: The founders are at the heart of everything we do. We want to be partners for life in this exciting journey, through thick and thin, come what may. We’re in it for the long haul. Collaboration: It takes a village to raise a child. We’re happy to pay it forward, because we’re all in this together. That’s what ecosystem building is all about. Impact-driven: We believe that, given the possibility, we have the talent to build enduring technology firms right here in our part of the world. For Us By Us: We believe that, given the possibility, we have the talent to build enduring technology firms right here in our part of the world. Enabling People We empower people with big ideas to go the distance, and aspire to understand the humans behind the ideas. Sustaining Growth We commit to long-term, hands-on support in all aspects of a startup to facilitate personal and business development. Fueling Innovation We connect visionaries of the region by converting interest into investment.

The 'Cane Angel Network aims to bring together entrepreneurs and investors from the University of Miami community to provide early-stage funding and a network of advisors. Team and Process An interdisciplinary team of graduate business, law, and medical students will work under the direction of an experienced managing director to undertake initial review of company submissions. Only a select few will make it through the triage process and be subjected to due diligence, the results of which will be posted so that angels may make their investment decisions. Membership Criteria ’Cane Angel network members must be part of the University of Miami community (alumni, faculty, staff, student, or parent) and must be accredited investors per SEC regulations. The membership fee is $2,500 per year. Investment Angels will benefit from the opportunity to invest in vetted companies related to the U and engage with the University's entrepreneurial community. Diligence reports will be posted to the network and investors will make their own decisions, with no requirement to invest. Investors can further support companies by providing mentorship.

BAS supports young companies and invests to take a minority stake in the companies. Startups can profit from the active role that BAS members take in the company, like unpaid consultants. Each year BAS organises 20 dinner meetings in Zurich and Lausanne/Geneva where founders can pitch their business proposition. Mentoring Most of BAS investments receive mentoring and guidance from BAS members. Startups benefit from the members' diverse skills across a broad spectrum of industries. BAS members do not count their time and are happy to share their rich networks. Investment As a general rule, BAS invests in Swiss based startups with high growth potential. The due diligence process is very straightforward to make investing as uncomplicated as possible for angels and startups. The shortest investment decision yet took us one week. Community BAS works well thanks to the exclusive and experienced nature of its members. BAS members are generally successful founders or executives. They are experienced investors with an interest in mentoring and in investing in high-risk startups.

The Bangladesh Women Investors’ Network (BWIN), started as a sister chapter of Bangladesh Angels Network (BAN), is the pioneering network of women business angels in the country. Why We ExistIn 2020, globally only 9% of all funds deployed to technology startups went to founding teams that included at least one woman. Solo woman founders and all-women teams raised just 2% of all VC dollars, according to Tech Crunch. Venture capital targeting women-owned businesses is virtually nonexistent in South Asia, including Bangladesh, according to a 2018 report by the Asian Development Bank and the Asia Foundation. There is a business case for supporting and investing in more women-led startups; research shows that investment in women-founded startups performs 63% better than exclusively male-founded startups. Bangladesh bottom-ranked among 58 economies in the MasterCard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) 2020, meaning it is one of the toughest places for women entrepreneurs The Bottom Line There is a business case to having more women founders and women investors within an ecosystem and applying a gender-lens approach to investment decisions. When women become business angels they invest in sectors that have often been overlooked by male business angels, and they tend to invest in women-led ventures. The result? A more diverse equity investor pool that helps to ensure great ideas get the funding they deserve. Our Approach With an aim to fill the early-stage financing gap and provide advisory support to women-led and women-focused startups, the network engages in multiple activities towards this end. Our members include a blend of individual investors, family offices, corporate and global investors. The network looks to invest in deals between the range of $50,000 to $250,000 across all sectors. In addition to funding, the network will also provide high-quality mentoring and access to networks and strategic support to its portfolio and pipeline companies. Investors Invest in some of the most promising enterprises in Bangladesh and get in at the ground floor of their growth Access to highly curated deal-flow across sector Invest alongside industry leaders Post investment portfolio monitoring support Curated curriculum to master the black box of startup investing and other asset classes Entrepreneurs We help women-led and women-focused startups & rising enterprises accelerate their growth with our decades of experience Customized pre-investment support before you pitch to investors Connect to local & global investors Mentorship and market development