MyMicroInvest in the press: almost €10M raised in one night via crowdfunding

We’ve been working hard this autumn here at MyMicroInvest. Last week we hosted our first event in Flanders, Magic 5, where we also launched our new venture capital investment fund.

Our team is so busy recruiting crowd investors and discussing campaigns with our entrepreneurs, we rarely take a moment to show off. So please indulge us for some humble bragging about our latest press reviews, and, sign up to join the fun at our next event by registering as a member.

On 18-19 November we were featured in Belgian press five times, in: De Tijd, Le Soir, La Libre, and, L’Echo twice. Here we summarise the articles for our English-speaking readers.

“Fonds voor jonge bedrijven met sociale impact steekt van wal”, De Tijd
(Fund for young companies with social impact starts off)

Emmanuel Vanbrussel at De Tijd covered the launch of Inventures II, our new venture capital fund which is collecting €50 Million to invest in 35 young companies with a positive impact on society. The article noted that investors in Inventures II include big names like Philippe Haspeslagh (Ardo, Vlerick), Jacques de Vaucleroy (Ahold, Delhaize) and Charles Adriaenssen (linked to AB InBev).

“Un nouveau record pour le crowdfunding en direct”, Le Soir
(A new record for live crowdfunding)
 
This article by Olivier Fabes was published in Le Soir, with an audience of 70,000. The piece focused on the Magic 5 event, saying that the special theme was a kind of “show business”, which was rewarded with record-breaking fundraising.

MyMicroInvest launched a new venture capital fund with professional private equity investors, reaffirming its objective to mobilize investment risk. The social impact objective was already well established in the company and in the first Inventures I fund, but this is “a world first, being the first to support the sustainable development goals (SDGs) as defined by the United Nations”. The second milestone is not only more ambitious in terms of funding, but it will specifically focus on the startups and scaleups which adhere to the UN SDGs.

Zen Car and AproPLAN benefited last night from a beneficial acceleration to reach their respective targets of €250,000 and €48,600 in the framework of participative fundraising campaigns in progress for several weeks. Both “scale-ups” (start-ups that have already reached a certain maturity) correspond to the criteria of high societal impact that MyMicroInvest reaffirms.

"Le crowdfunding n’a plus rien du gadget financier”, La Libre
(Crowdfunding is nothing more than a financial tool)

This article is by Pierre ­François Lovens and published in La Libre, reaching an audience of more than 160,000. The style of the piece is a question and answer interview with José Zurstrasse, Chairman and Olivier de Duve CEO. It starts with a quote, “The new connected generation is an opportunity for Belgium”, and discusses the new entrepreneurial generation in Belgium, touching on the barriers of entrepreneurship including the stigma of failure, and the political influence. It then covers the model of co-investment, investing with professional investors. The final page discusses the future of MyMicroInvest, which “by the end of 2017, will be active in ten to fifteen countries”. (Read more here about our recent trip to 29 countries!) 

“Près de 10 millions d'euros récoltés en une soirée en ‘crowd’”, L’Echo
(Close to 10 Million euros collected in one night by the “crowd”)
 
Michel Lauwers at L’Echo covered the Magic 5 event, saying it “a donné de beaux résultats” (has been a success). The company that far exceeded its objective was AproPLAN, a young Belgian SME that developed a project management software for construction. AproPLAN wanted to raise €48,600 but raised €264,000: more than five times the target in absolute terms. And Zen Car was the most popular investment with 150 investors.

“MyMicroInvest lance un fonds à impact durable”, L’Echo
(MyMicroInvest launches an impact fund)
 
This article by Michel Lauwers at L’Echo, starts off strongly, saying, José Zurstrassen and his fellow directors have “a reservoir of ideas that seem inexhaustible”. The piece then describes the Inventures II objectives, and includes a brief summary of Inventures I. The fund will last ten years and aims for an internal rate of return of 15%. The subscription period opens today, with a minimum investment of €100,000 and is closes at the end of 2017.

Inventures II will co-invest alongside the crowdfunders, to combine the forces of financing by the crowd together with professional investors. Investors include José Zurstrassen, businessman Philippe Haspeslagh, and other well-known personalities of the Belgian finance and industry have already expressed their wish to participate in the new raising of capital.

The social impact investment fund is conceived as a multi-actor partnership bringing together public, private and academic organizations that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and resources. Investments will support the achievement of sustainable development objectives that also include citizens.