The platform where capital-seeking
entrepreneurs are matched with
private investors
Business Angels Network Flanders brings entrepreneurs and investors together. BAN Flanders distinguishes itself thanks to the A of the Angels. They provide capital and commitment. They show patience and bring wisdom. BAN Flanders is supported by the Flemish government and is a unique channel for entrepreneurs to raise their company to a higher level with ‘friendly’ capital and ‘wise deals’.
Business angels join you – as an entrepreneur – at a very early stage without claiming a controlling position and without immediately thinking in terms of return or exit. Business angels have successful careers, extensive experience as investors and participate as business angel, each time for a limited share, in several companies.
The Flemish Government rewards private investments of risk capital in companies with a tax reduction. The ‘vriendenaandeel’ is a variant of the existing win-win loan, where a private person or family invests with capital in the form of shares. In order to help companies and businesses through the coronary crisis in the long term, the Flemish Minister of Economy has prepared a complete recovery plan, of which the ‘vriendenaandeel’ is a part. The main line of approach is to make it attractive for private savers to support companies.
A business angel as a friend
If a business angel acquires such a ‘vriendenaandeel’, you will not only have financial support, but you will also receive a free piece of guidance and wisdom. The Business Angels Network Flanders will gladly assist you as an entrepreneur or investor in your search for a ‘vriendenaandeel’.
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Also feel free to look around on our website to learn more about our business angel work or enrich your knowledge through our online WISE Academy
BAN Flanders has been taking on the role of matchmaker between entrepreneurs and business angels for almost 25 years. The network currently has +220 member business angels. Every year BAN Flanders receives more than 600 files from starting or promising companies looking for capital and knowledge.
Each year BAN Flanders selects around 100 of these to present to the business angel network. We provide monthly matching events, both live at locations throughout Belgium and online. Through this offer, we provide some 2,500 truly valuable contacts through BAN Flanders.
Ultimately, around 100 pathways are initiated each year, about half of which culminate in concrete participation. That is a whole deal guidance process initiated by BAN Flanders in which the parties get to know and trust each other.
It is ultimately the entrepreneur who decides with whom he wants to work – sometimes several business angels – and whom he ‘lets in’. This working method does not guarantee success but is the best route to a sustainable collaboration with a lot of added value.
BAN Flanders is an extremely powerful network. It is the largest network of its kind in Flanders. Meeting the right people brings you closer to realising your dream. Through each of the approximately 250 business angels, you also get access to niche investors throughout Europe. Investors also meet experienced people with the same interests and the possibility of syndication at BAN Flanders. BAN Flanders opens doors, nationally and internationally.
BAN Flanders is strongly committed to cross-fertilisation between start-ups, investors and experts in various fields. If your project qualifies, you not only become stronger financially, you also receive an injection of expertise, experience and contacts through the network. And above all: you gain new insights as an entrepreneur and as a business angel.
With us, you are not alone. We guide entrepreneurs and investors from the very beginning (signing the code of conduct) to the successful end ‘the wise deal’. With fascinating seminars, workshops and training courses, as well as the WISE Academy, you are optimally prepared for a possible deal. You receive professional and at the same time very personal guidance. You can always contact someone from BAN Flanders; we remain your point of contact throughout the process.
In the end, we initiate around 80 processes per year, of which approximately half result in a concrete participation. That is a whole guidance process guided by BAN Flanders in which the parties have to get to know and trust each other.
Ultimately, it is the entrepreneur who decides with whom he wishes to work – sometimes several Business Angels – and who he will ‘let in’. This method offers no guarantee of success but is the best way to achieve a sustainable collaboration with high added value.
Chairwoman – Cynthia Verswijvel-Cornelissen
Directors
Veroniek Collewaert
Dirk Haerinck
Jean-Marie Vliegen
Wouter Reggers
David De Wever
Observer Flemish Government – Xavier Walthoff-Borm