LEHDISTÖTIEDOTE: Uusi suomalainen kasvuyritysten rahoitukseen keskittynyt Venture Bonsai Internet-palvelu avattu
UUSI SUOMALAINEN KASVUYRITYSTEN RAHOITUKSEEN KESKITTYNYT VENTURE BONSAI INTERNET-PALVELU AVATTU
Venture Bonsai on uusi suomalainen kasvuyrityksille suunnattu netissä toimiva työkalu, jonka avulla yritys voi kerätä pääomarahoituksen pienissä erissä useilta sijoittajilta. Palvelu mahdollistaa potentiaalisten sijoittajien sekä yrityksen monipuolisen kommunikaation ennen sijoituspäätösten tekemistä, yhdistäen tähän myös sosiaalisesta mediasta tuttuja mekanismeja. Venture Bonsai tarjoaa ensimmäisenä maailmassa myös käytännön työkalut niin kasvuyrityksille kuin sijoittajillekin koko sijoitusprosessin läpiviemiseksi.
Kasvuyritykset ja niiden tukeminen nähdään laajalti tärkeänä yhteiskunnallisena asiana. Pelkät kauniit puheet eivät kuitenkaan riitä, vaan tarvitaan myös toimintaa. Venture Bonsai palvelun taustalla onkin kokeneiden yrittäjien näkemys tarvittavasta ratkaisusta kuten myös uskallus lähteä toteuttamaan konkreettista työkalua yksityisin varoin.
“Venture Bonsai on ensimmäinen todellinen kasvuyritysten rahoitukseen keskittynyt työkalu, mahdollistaen yksityissijoittajille esimerkiksi 5000 euron sijoitusten tekemisen helposti ja luotettavasti kasvupotentiaalia omaaviin uusiin kasvuyrityksiin”, sanoo hallituksen puheenjohtaja Antti T. Hannula. “Itse pitkään yrittäjinä olleena tiedämme miten pienelläkin, esimerkiksi 100.000 euron pääomarahoituksella, pystyy nykyisin tekemään pieniä ihmeitä. Toisaalta ilman tuota puuttuvaa summaa saattaa koko hanke jäädä tekemättä”, Hannula jatkaa. Alkuvaiheessa vain eurooppalaiset yritykset voivat kerätä palvelulla rahoitusta, ja toisaalta sijoittajat voivat olla mistä vaan Euroopan maasta.
Venture Bonsain perusidea on mahdollistaa kasvuyrityksille tuote- ja yritysprofiilin rakentaminen sekä näihin liittyen pitää Twitter-tyylisesti tästä yrityksestä kiinnostuneet mahdolliset sijoittajat ajan tasalla yrityksen etenemisestä. Sijoituskierroksen ollessa… Continue reading
Benefits of Standardized Startup Documents (Revised)
This is a revised edition of the original blog entry in August, 2010. At that time we set to implement the first set of standardized documents for European entrepreneurs and private investors. We worked together with Borenius&Kemppinen and the documents were released in January 2011 as Venture Bonsai Legal Framework. This blog entry is to explain our view on the importance of the standardized documents for the startup ecosystem in Europe.
Traditionally, running an investment round has meant a lot of work with the legal documents. Getting the Term Sheet and Shareholders’ Agreement into such a document that all parties agree on, can mean a lot of work and legal costs. Quite often it’s also the investors who bring the initial document on the table (as often the entrepreneurs don’t have those in the first place). It certainly makes sense to improve this process with higher quality of documents and more transparent understanding of acceptable and on the other hand, not acceptable terms.
But what is the definition of a standardized document?
For me it is a document that is acceptable for all parties (investors and entrepreneurs alike) as such, without any tough negotiation concerning the key issues. The… Continue reading
It's All About Trust
When it comes to investing in start-ups, it’s all about trust. Do you feel confident that this team, company, and product will live up to its expectations? Even if you’re investing relatively small amount of money (say, for example 5.000€) it’s still a big amount that requires trust between both parties. It’s your money, after all.
What is trust, anyway?
Wikipedia defines trust as
- the willingness of one party (trustor) to be vulnerable to the actions of another party (trustee);
- reasonable expectation (confidence) of the trustor that the trustee will behave in a way beneficial to the trustor;
- risk of harm to the trustor if the trustee will not behave accordingly; and
- the absence of trustor’s enforcement or control over actions performed by the trustee.
Within the scope of Venture Bonsai, you probably would be interested in
- as an entrepreneur, do I trust certain person enough to let him to see my Investment Round material?
- as an entrepreneur, do I trust Venture Bonsai as a platform to run my investment round ?
- as an investor, do I trust certain person enough to invest in his company?
- as an investor, do I trust Venture Bonsai as a platform to invest through… Continue reading
About Investing with Venture Bonsai
You may have wondered when using Venture Bonsai, where is actually all the action? One of the principal user interface design strategies has been that you only should see those features that are relevant for each user in each phase.
In the illustration below you see for example the screen for an investor who has just made an investment.
Before investing the investor can (among other things) view the “Investor Pitch Video”, use the Q & A section to find answers to those questions that are important for him (all communication is visible to all investor prospects, as required by the law), as well as review the documents in the data room.
After the investment has been made, the investor can keep communicating with the company and follow how the investment target is reached. The investor can also invite his investor-friends for the round.
Certain documents, such as the Vendor Due Diligence, are produced with an easy-to-do process and is typically verified by an external lawyer.
Venture Bonsai, The Invitation Edition
We’re very happy to announce that Venture Bonsai is now open as a Invitation Only edition. Companies and investors domiciled within European Union can now register, for free of charge, for the service. Companies domiciled in Finland can already run a funding round, and investors from any continental european country can become an investor. More details within the service.
Crowdfunding and the Benefits of Standardized Documents
Traditionally, running an investment round has meant a lot of work with legal documents. Getting the Term Sheet and Shareholders’ Agreement into a document that all parties agree on can mean a lot of work and legal costs. Quite often it’s also the investors who bring the initial document on the table (because often the entrepreneurs don’t have their own documentation in the first place).
But what is the definition of a standardized document?
For me it is a document that is acceptable for all parties (investors and entrepreneurs alike) as such, without any tough negotiation concerning the key issues. The parties could just select between some key options (like in this Term Sheet Generator) and fill-in the blanks, such as the company name, valuation and the amount of funding.
With the “old way”, agreeing on the Term Sheet and the creating the actual financing documents requires a lot of legal work. Given the cost of that, the funding round itself really has to be millions of dollars or euros. Which means this process by no means is applicable with the crowdfunding model. Paying more than 10,000 € for the lawyer to close a financing round of 100,000 €… Continue reading