Oana Coșman
SeedBlink,the European co-investment platform in tech startups, has announced it has completed the acquisition of Symbid, one of the world's first investment crowdfunding platforms.
The deal is set to accelerate SeedBlink coverage as a pan-European player, broadening its geographic footprint in the CEE and Benelux, and its mission to consolidate and build the equity investment infrastructure for European tech companies at all stages.
With Symbid’s addition, the platforms have contributed with over 110 million euros investments in 250 startups, with a combined network of 62,000 individual investors.
The acquisition significantly expands SeedBlink's investor pool by increasing the high-net-worth individuals' community and includes a professional funding partner network Symbid is already connected with - such as banks, venture capital funds and angel investors.
Symbid was founded in 2011 by a team of Dutch entrepreneurs as one of the first investment crowdfunding platforms in the world and has since built a community of 50,000 investors in startups mainly from the Benelux.
In its first 10 years of operation (until the end of 2021), Symbid has facilitated investments totaling €35 million for more than 180 startups with equity and convertible notes, 67 of which were from the technology sector.
Ionuț Pătrăhău, Managing Director & Corporate Development at SeedBlink said: Both companies have made a name for themselves in providing private investors with access to curated European startup opportunities, so this is a natural move looking for the European consolidation game. Innovation is driving the new economy, and the combination of SeedBlink and Symbid will support portfolio diversification and investment infrastructure, putting together both east and the west advantages. Benelux is on everyone's mind as it remains a strong tech region in Europe thanks to the presence of top tech cities, wealthy countries, a strong government presence, and a well-connected and educated workforce.
Robin Slakhorst, Founder of Symbid, said “We believe Europe needs more tech innovation to become more competitive on the global stage. Bold founders need to be financed with sufficient capital to fuel those ambitions, and individuals need professional and structured access to these venture opportunities. The combined forces will help us lead the entrepreneurial ecosystem, by offering a unique digital financing infrastructure, a secondary market and a fast network of professional investors co-investing with individuals throughout Europe”.
In the future, the Symbid team will continue to lead the investment efforts in Benelux.
Symbid investors will benefit from new opportunities and gain access to pan-European investment opportunities through greater coverage and resources.
SeedBlink is a tech specialized venture investment platform that enables individual investors to fund top-tier European tech startups and scale-ups alongside established institutional investors.
Launched in early 2020, the platform has already mobilized over €75 million euros in startup investing, attracted over 12,000 individual investors from 60 countries and has a portfolio of 62 funded European companies.
Deals in which SeedBlink users have participated as co-investors include FlowX, Dronamics, Hunch and Druid. In less than 3 years, investors have already recorded liquidity events with returns ranging from 2.5 to 4.75 times their investments, through the recently launched secondary market.
