Roundtable wants to bring AngelList-style unions to Europe
Meet Roundtable, a new eFounders-backed startup that wants to bring community angel investment to European startups. The company has built a platform that simplifies the administrative, legal and financial challenges associated with angel investments.
The roundtable could be particularly useful for existing angel investors who want to unlock additional capital for their portfolio companies. As they're about to invest in a startup, they can create an EU-based Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and tell their friends to invest alongside them.
For individuals who are not professional investors, this lowers the barrier to entry as they do not have to deal with a lawyer, accountant, banker, etc.
When the lead angel sets up the SPV, they can choose to get some interest from other investors in the vehicle, but this is optional. Later, Roundtable can also handle partial exits in case some investors wish to exit a startup while others wish to remain shareholders.
"We are launching a solution that meets the demands of non-professional European investors so that they can invest in "a few clicks": extreme standardization of SPVs with legal innovations, a platform to communicate with members of the community and get the best of everyone in terms of networking and experience," said Roundtable Co-Founder and CEO Evan Testa. Roundtable was co-founded by Evan Testa, Julien Fissette, and Simon Ternoir.
>Roundtable is currently working in France and Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Since June, the startup has facilitated 40 transactions worth nearly 20 million euros ($20 million at today's exchange rate). On average, there are 20 investors per investment.
Like AngelList, Roundtable does not intend to stop there. Once it hones that experience for one-time deals, the company wants to empower super angel investors to become a solo general partner with their own small venture capital fund.
Due to the legal hurdles associated with angel investing, it is clear that there is an opportunity for a local equivalent of AngelList in Europe. It will be interesting to see if the angel community adopts a standardized platform like Roundtable in the future.
Meet Roundtable, a new eFounders-backed startup that wants to bring community angel investment to European startups. The company has built a platform that simplifies the administrative, legal and financial challenges associated with angel investments.
The roundtable could be particularly useful for existing angel investors who want to unlock additional capital for their portfolio companies. As they're about to invest in a startup, they can create an EU-based Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and tell their friends to invest alongside them.
For individuals who are not professional investors, this lowers the barrier to entry as they do not have to deal with a lawyer, accountant, banker, etc.
When the lead angel sets up the SPV, they can choose to get some interest from other investors in the vehicle, but this is optional. Later, Roundtable can also handle partial exits in case some investors wish to exit a startup while others wish to remain shareholders.
"We are launching a solution that meets the demands of non-professional European investors so that they can invest in "a few clicks": extreme standardization of SPVs with legal innovations, a platform to communicate with members of the community and get the best of everyone in terms of networking and experience," said Roundtable Co-Founder and CEO Evan Testa. Roundtable was co-founded by Evan Testa, Julien Fissette, and Simon Ternoir.
>Roundtable is currently working in France and Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Since June, the startup has facilitated 40 transactions worth nearly 20 million euros ($20 million at today's exchange rate). On average, there are 20 investors per investment.
Like AngelList, Roundtable does not intend to stop there. Once it hones that experience for one-time deals, the company wants to empower super angel investors to become a solo general partner with their own small venture capital fund.
Due to the legal hurdles associated with angel investing, it is clear that there is an opportunity for a local equivalent of AngelList in Europe. It will be interesting to see if the angel community adopts a standardized platform like Roundtable in the future.
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