Nordic Angel Forum - 17. mars to 7. april 2022

Nordic Angel Forum was a free four-week training programme for Norwegian and Swedish business angels, run in spring 2022 by Business Angels Norway together with Blender Collective and Innovatum Startup. Twenty investors took part across four hybrid sessions, heard pitches from eight startups from both countries, and finished with a Demo Day in Strömstad where four of them presented to the group.

The Program

On March 17, BAN launched Nordic Angel Forum, a training program for investors in collaboration with Blender Collective and Innovatum Startup – an initiative from Innovatum Science Park. This program was aimed to enhance the capital access to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Norway and Sweden providing tools and information to prospective investors on how to find better investment opportunities and greater returns. The program was funded by Fredrikstad municipality, Västra Götalandsregionen and EU Interreg. At the time of the programme, Business Angels Norway had trained more than 230 business angels, who had invested over NOK 15 million in startups over the preceding three years.

Programme structure

Nordic Angel Forum ran as four sessions over four weeks, delivered in a hybrid format with Norwegian and Swedish participants, and led by Business Angels Norway on the basis of its experience with similar programmes.

Session	Date	Topic	Format
1	Thursday 17 March 17:00–19:00	Angel investing ABC — what, who and why. What it means to be an angel investor, with examples of successful collaborations between startups and angels. How to build a portfolio and establish co-operation with other angel investors on a sound strategic and ethical footing. How to analyse a startup’s business model, team and market potential. Participants also received access to a network platform with several hundred Nordic angel investors.	Online
2	Thursday 24 March 18:00–20:30	Investor pitch — eight pitches from ambitious Norwegian and Swedish startups. Five-minute pitches, with guidance on evaluating a pitch quickly. What is a sensible amount to invest, and at what point? What return should be expected, and when? How should a company with little or no revenue be valued? Facilitated discussion and shortlisting.	In person in Fredrikstad and Trollhättan, with video link
3	Thursday 31 March 17:00–19:00	Finance, law and agreements — legal experts on process and contracts. Financial and legal due diligence of a startup, tax considerations, methods of investing such as syndicates, direct investment and convertible loans, and contracts.	Online
4	Thursday 7 April	Demo Day — investor pitches from the shortlisted startups. Pitches from the companies selected in session 2, with due diligence prepared in advance and presented to participants, followed by a facilitated group discussion to select the recommended investment opportunities. Investment remained voluntary for all participants.	In person in Strömstad
Follow-up	Late April	Continued support. All Nordic Angel Forum participants received free basic membership of Business Angels Network, with access to the digital platforms and tools that enable communication and investment across Scandinavia. Those who chose to invest, individually or as part of a syndicate, were supported by BAN through the process.	Online and in person as needed

Participation was free of charge. The programme was publicly funded because access to early-stage capital matters to the wider economy, and any investment in the companies presented was entirely voluntary and left to each participant. It was open to anyone wanting to learn more about investing in startups; the typical participant brought relevant expertise together with enough capacity to take part in investment rounds alongside other business angels.

Sessions

Nordic Angel Forum was conducted in a hybrid format and the program content was delivered in 4 sessions. During the introductory session investors from Norway and Sweden got an introduction to what it means to be an angel investor, how to build a portfolio of investments and establish collaboration with other angel investors. Investors also analyzed a startup business model, team and market potential and were granted access to our investors relations platform CrowdWorks and to the startup evaluation platform notata. This first hybrid session was led by Chairman of the Board Åsmund Johan Mandal and General Manager Jørn Lein-Mathisen from Business Angels Norway.

During the second session, 8 startups from Norway and Sweden showcased their business in front of our investors: Carjoy, Eventwood, LearnInHub, Leid, MedThings, NSS Water Enhancement Technology, Herbox and PQM Systems. Using our startup evaluation platform Notata investors selected 4 startups that were invited to participate in Nordic Angel Forum-Demo Day. Our third session focused on law and finance and was delivered by our partners Andreas Dypvik, from Advokatfirmaet Consilium and Cecilia Hesslen representing Advokatfirman dNovo.

Full audience seated in a brick-walled hall at a NorBAN event

Nordic Angel Forum-Demo Day

Finally, Nordic Angel Forum-Demo Day took place on April 7th in Strömstad hosted by Innovatum Startup with the participation of Carjoy, NSS Water Enhancement Technology, Herbox and Leid. During the program, investors not only got an introduction to the due diligence process, on how to create contracts and agreements and learned new investment methods, but also had the opportunity to meet other investors and exchange their experiences. Business Angels Norway Is committed to facilitate programs aimed to support the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Norway.