Conference to focus on global challenges facing early start
investors
29/05/07
Wales’ ‘connected environment’ is ensuring early stage companies
grow and achieve their share of the global market, a UK national
conference to be held in Cardiff this summer will be told.
The British Business Angel Association’s (BBAA) annual
conference is to be staged in Wales for the first time on the 4th
July, attracting more than 300 investors, business angel networks,
Venture Capitalists, Fund Managers, and professionals involved in
Early Stage Funding from throughout the UK and Europe.
Organised in conjunction with Finance Wales and xénos – The Wales
Business Angel Network, the event will examine the impact of
globalisation on the early stage investment market with keynote
speakers exploring both the challenges and opportunities it
presents for entrepreneurs and investors.
A specific conference focus will be the investment market in Wales
and how the Welsh economy has developed in recent years, providing
a primed environment for investors in early stage companies.
“Wales is providing structured support for early stage companies
with Finance Wales and xénos playing an important part in this
alongside other private sector investors,” said Steve Smith,
Development Funding Director, Finance Wales.
“Early stage companies will increasingly be important to the growth
of the Welsh economy and are an important part of Finance Wales’
strategy. We already engage with - and invest in - early stage
businesses with strong IP and robust prototypes, but what we have
to ensure is that they demonstrate profitable growth potential and
commercial viability together with relevant management expertise in
order to secure effective returns in the long-term.”
The BBAA’s annual conference, to be held at the Holland House
Hotel, will focus attention on how investors are looking more and
more towards early stage companies and entrepreneurs with global
growth potential in order to ensure effective returns on their
investment.
At the same time, it will look at how early stage businesses in
the UK looking to accelerate growth must increasingly go global
earlier in their life cycles, taking advantage of the global market
place for customers, technologies, supply of talent and risk
capital.
Part of the event will examine the early stage environment in Wales
with an expert panel involved in the market.
Leanna Davies, Network Manager of xénos, said: “Syndicated deals
and collaborations are an important way in which investors can
share the risk of investing early stage companies. xénos is already
facilitating syndicated deals amongst our investors and venture
capital funds such as those offered by Finance Wales.
The conference will enable us to examine collaborative
opportunities for angel investors and venture capitalists on
regional, national and international levels ensuring that welsh
companies can compete in the global market.”
Key speakers already lined up for the event include David Smith,
Economics Editor at The Sunday Times and Peter Linthwaite, CEO of
the British Venture Capital Association. There will also be a range
of international expert speakers, interactive panels and audience
debates.
On the evening before the event the BBAA will host its annual
awards dinner at the Millennium Stadium.