Business Angel Camp 2021 in Riga

Nordic countries have a vibrant startup ecosystem, but our Baltic friends are the real rising stars of the region. We have also been screening quite a few companies in the region lately. These were the reasons why I decided to hop on a plane and join to Business Angel Camp – organized by Estban in Riga, Latvia. Corona pass (something we are still waiting for in Finland) + passport was required to enter to the event, so health risk level felt lower than visiting a restaurant in Finland.

Visiting the potential portfolio company

I was also able to visit one of our potential investment targets before the event – the fringe benefits of having a 5.20 flight from Turku. Real face to face -discussion with a founder and visit to the “HQ” gave me more confidence in the team. Office was small, but they had a nice view over the city.

Feeling of the new normal

Presentations sounded better live than on screen and I noticed that it was a lot easier to focus – had been missing this.?

During the event, we also had an opportunity to visit Latvian Unicorn Printful and hear their story. Teemu Malinen had already in 2015 spotted the Startup Vitamins that gave a birth to Printful and wrote a blog post about it.?So here is the throwback.

https://www.sofokus.com/blog/2015/05/05/heroes-of-e-commerce-customer-experience-by-startup-vitamins-part-2/?

Latvian Startup Pitch

Startups that were pitching to us had unique ideas, showed good traction, and had strong teams – Latvian companies seem to have a bright future ahead of them. In general, the valuations especially in Latvia and Lithuania seem to be attractive compared to more mature markets. There might be real gems to be found in this region too.

Creating networks for the future

Investing is dependent on trust and networks. You need to trust your money in the hands of strangers. When you form an investment syndicate you need to pool money with other investors within a network to channel even more money to strangers. All this becomes a multilayer trust network and opportunities to create more trust between the investors and founders are extremely valuable. One of the more experienced business angels said to me that in the first time you say hello, the second time you to start talking, and the third time you start to create bonds.??

This was my first international business angel event so I mainly said hello and talked with new people – and plan to continue building more social capital in the subsequent events.

This is best done in informal chats, coffee lines in the event, and social gatherings in the evening –while being fun they are priceless opportunities to have.?

Thank you to Estban, Latban, and Litban for making this great event possible for Finnish angel investors too.??

Read more about the event: https://estban.ee/business-angel-camp/?

CU next year!