The Belgian business angel network BeAngels and Verve Ventures are joining forces to speed up fund-raising and the development of European startups. Through an exclusive partnership, BeAngels will offer Belgian investors access to the state-of-the-art platform developed by Verve Ventures and will contribute to sourcing new deal flow from Belgium as well.

There is a real challenge in Europe. It is difficult to create champions by investing sufficient funds to grow companies, and this is especially true for certain countries. Most seed investments are made locally, but it is necessary to be able to finance companies over several phases of development and in particular when they go international. Europe is fragmented and capital flows are hampered by national borders and constraints, which do not facilitate cross-border investment.

The Belgian business angel network BeAngels will offer cross-border investments, mainly in Series A and Series B, via Verve’s digital platform.  BeAngels is an organization that over 20 years has evolved from a “simple” network of business angels to a support structure for fund-raising and investing in private equity, from the pre-seed stage to the pre-series A stage. Through the partnership with Verve, which is rapidly becoming a pan-European platform with dedicated investment managers for France, Germany, and Central Europe/Nordics, this range will now be extended beyond the borders of Belgium, up to Series B fund-raising.

Today, the BeAngels network has more than 370 affiliate members and is growing by 15% per year. It facilitates between 30 and 40 fundraising events per year and aims to double this figure thanks to this growth lever.

Through this new cross-border partnership, BeAngels and Verve seek to promote startups going international and the creation of European champions through this type of cross-border collaboration. Verve is in discussions with similar networks in other countries to build a partnership network of investors that spans the continent. This is the logical consequence of and counterpart to the systematic pan-European deal flow Verve has built.

“With its innovative approach to investing in private equity and its understanding of the mechanics of venture capital financing, Verve seemed to us to be an exceptional partner for investors who wish to further diversify their investment portfolio in the real economy in multiple European countries. Access to Verve’s financing platform becomes, moreover, an asset for the companies financed via our ecosystem because it gives them the possibility to finance the industrialization and growth phases” says Claire Munck, CEO of BeAngels.

Verve Ventures, bringing together more than 1000 active private investors on its platform, has so far made more than 100 investments, of which about 20 outside Switzerland. In Belgium, the first two investments are OncoDNA and S-Biomedic. “The partnership with BeAngels demonstrates the strong desire in Europe to work together and to innovate in the field of financing startups. Startups that are financed via our platform will be able to reach an even wider, international audience of investors. The BeAngels network will be able to offer its members an even greater project pipeline outside Belgium,” says Chris Gay-Crosier, Head of International Investments at Verve.