taller estrategias de financiamento-2016_en_final_notizen
TRANSCRIPT
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Venture funding works like gears. A typical startup goes through several rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take just enough money to reach the speed where you can shi> into the next gear. Few startups get Funding quite right. Many are underfunded. A few are overfunded, which is like trying to start driving in third gear. I think it would help founders to understand funding beEer—not just the mechanics of it, but what investors are thinking. It is like bringing 2 worlds together, 2 different cultures. Therefore it also would help investors if they had gone through a real startup venture before. This is what you should be seeking when talking to Incubators, Accelerators and Angel Investors. They not only should provide funding but also the necessary business experIse as well as the experience of building a startup company. Follow-‐on funding in general is coming from Venture-‐Capital, supported by industry including large MulI NaIonals. MulImillionaire Mike Markkula was the Angel Investor for Apple, who provided the essenIal business experIse and funding of $250,000 during the incorporaIon of Apple.
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Chile has recognized the importance of entrepreneurship for the future of its economy, the country and the people in the country. Many valuable programs have resulted in a significant increase in entrepreneurship. Startup Chile is recognized widely above the boarders of LaIn America and is aEracIng Startups from the US and Europe. However most of them are leaving again given the lack of follow-‐on investment or local market opportunity. The startup ecosystem is expanding. Over 40 incubators and accelerators are established, most of them supported by CORFO. Angel investment, while sIll in its infancy, is growing with 3 acIve Networks established. IdenIfying the gap of follow-‐on investments, CORFO just launched a program to support the building of Early Stage technology funds. In addiIon the government is working on regulaIng Crowdfunding supported by internaIonal experIse – while the first pla\orm is acIve already and a 2nd will be launched soon. However, local industry and family offices need to step-‐up and parIcipate acIvely with money and experience to build a solid Venture Capital environment to enable Entrepreneurship as a key engine for Chile´s future economy. Local Entrepreneurs on the other hand, need to be more prepared for the challenges in venturing a startup. While invenIng a product is important, proving it in the market is the first criIcal step. Nobody pays for a good idea, nobody invests just in a good idea. The valuaIon of a company at prototype stage is the most disputed topic between entrepreneurs and investors. Successful Entreprenerus bring InnovaIon spirit, live and breath their target markets, are open for and regularly seeking coaching and mentoring, have only the best people surrounding them, understand that funding is not for free.
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Investor strategy: As indicated in my previous speech, having a solid investor strategy is important to understand which investors you want to target. E.g. if your venture is targeIng the food and agriculture market in Chile, you might not only be able to raise public funding through related Incubators like Austral Incuba, but at later stage be able to raise smart money with the strong local industry. Your funding strategy is purely focused on Chile with a solid industry in your back. To the contrary Life Science which has not only a very limited local target market as well as no major local industry player, nor any internaIonal player. Both, food and Life Science, have preEy strict regulatory hurdles, however in the example you would have to overcome in case (1) regulatory hurdles in Chile, while in case (2) regulatory hurdles minimum in the US and Europe. The related cost, the expectaIons of investors and the compeIIve environment is hugely different. Depending on the stage of your venture you are looking for: (1) Fools, Friends and Family, (2) an incubator supported by CORFO funds or other public funding (3) Angel investment and/or (4) Family offices (5) Venture capital, (6) Smart money or IPO. If everything would be perfect, this would be the perfect funding process. Now we all know, the world is not perfect and beside (1) and (2), which is preEy predictable in Chile, all other opIons are scarce given that the investment environment for technology ventures, and even more for science technology ventures, is in its infancy. Even more it is important that you have a solid investor strategy so you know what type of investment you need and who to target. In addiIon it is very criIcal to understand the expectaIons of investors (private, professional or insItuIonal) as they are very different to FFF and public funding. Angel Investment: An Angel Investor (or Business Angel) is per definiIon a (wealthy)
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Angel Investment: An Angel Investor (or Business Angel) is per definiIon a (wealthy) individual who supports a entrepreneurship venture in an early stage (seed stage) and contributes with his know-‐how and network to help the startup to succeed. As indicated before, Apple was supported by an Angel Investor who contributed financially, however as important he closed criIcal gaps with his vast Business ExperIse. In Chile, you find very liEle of such Angel Investors. However, recognizing this gap, the government supported the building of Angel Investor networks and currently there are 5 established networks … even though in 2015 only 3 of them where able to raise money from their network of “Angel” Investors – the networks are acIve. Fact is that in 2014, more than 30 project were supported with in total more than US$2.1 mn and in 2016 we expect an increased acIvity again. So the quesIon comes, what you should be prepared for: 1. Each Networkh as a different structure and focus which you need to understand
prior to choosing and presenIng; 2. Equity expectaIons in average are between 15% and 25%, dependent on the valuaIon and policies of the investors; 3. Returns of average of 25% per year; 4. A scalable project, best with global scalability but min in LaTam; 5. A solid founding team -‐ a single founder is always looked criIcally at as well as when founders are brothers/family members; 6. a solid board of advisors and mentors who are involved and experts in those areas, where the entrepreneurs have gaps; 7. a solid business plan with a track record of execuIon
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Early Stage Technology Funds (widely known as 3:1 fund): In Sep of 2015, CORFO launched a new iniIaIve to increase availability of so called “follow-‐on” funding. Funding, which supports the entrepreneurship ecosystem following the strong seed investment availability. The government recognized, that many startups are either leaving the country or dying because of lack of funds. Since the launch of this iniIaIve 1 fund was approved and many others are in the process to either apply or sIll raising money. Some of the angel networks are also working to establish such fund to support the angel investment with co-‐funding. It is to early to give guidance on such, however the expectaIons will be minimum on the level of the angel networks plus that it is expected that some of those funds will focus on specific markets/technologies. We need to stay tuned.
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Venture Capital: Venture capital funds invest in companies in exchange for equity in the companies they invest in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as Biotechnology and IT. The typical venture capital investment occurs a>er a Seed Funding round as the first round of insItuIonal capital to fund growth (also referred to as round A) in the interest of generaIng a return through an eventual exit event, such as an IPO or sale of the company. I want to reinforce this statement: The goal of a VC is to either go public with the company or sell it – you as an Entrepreneur need to understand the consequence of such acIon! The VC industry in Chile is very small and for Life Science currently very limited. The key Life Science VC firms are Austral Capital and Aurus Capital, both currently fully invested and not taking on new investments. There are a few smaller players doing some more selected individual investments, however without the focus, knowledge and network to help the global expansion of your business. Therefore, your strategy needs to consider follow-‐on investments from the Angel Networks, Family offices, Crowd funding and hopefully in the future the Early Stage funds to prepare yourself and your business for an internaIonal investor.
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Equity crowdfunding is a mechanism that enables broad groups of investors to fund startup companies and small businesses in return for equity. Investors give money to a business and receive ownership of a small piece of that business. If the business succeeds, then its value goes up, as well as the value of a share in that business—the converse is also true. Coverage of equity crowdfunding indicates that its potenIal is greatest with startup businesses that are seeking smaller investments to achieve establishment, while follow-‐on funding (required for subsequent growth) may come from other sources. Crowd Funding is specifically to be considered as an interesIng opIon to raise funds, when your product/soluIon meets the interest and/or emoIon of a broad group of people in the community and offers even inexperienced investors a secure pla\orm to start with small investments. It can also be used to address a very specific community, like e.g. a defined paIent and/or medical expert group. However, on a global basis, Crowdfunding has been playing only a small role in LifeScience while already taking a big space in other technologies. In Chile some Pioneers have entered the market, despite the fact, that no regulaIons have been in place. The government is in the regulaIon process with the support of experts and the local players. Following we will here some examples of Crowdfunding in Chile.
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