Ivo Ronner: From Tech to CVC
With an intitial background in tech and economics, Ivo would soon find success when he was directly introduced to venture capital investing at the heart of industry in Silicon Valley. After learning the tools of the trade, he decided to head back to Europe to build up the innovation lab of the Swiss stock exchange. Knowing that you could not only invest internally as an accelerator program, he was able to build from scratch his own CVC Ronner Ventures AG with a focus on early stage fintech startups.
Advantages the CVC Ecosystem
Though every financing is important to an early stage startup, Ivo mentions how a CVC is able to finance cases which may not be possible through more traditional means. He believes that because CVCs do not need initial fundraising, they can target startups that do not necessarily have a high ROI. Furthermore CVCs can serve as more long term partners for the startup as there is no external pressure to show growth for investors nor is there need for an exit strategy.
Should Angel investors collaborate with CVCs even within the current market landscape?
Ivo firmly believes that even though the current market is challenging to navigate, it is still the opportune time to get into CVCs as an Angel investor. As there is less capital on the market he finds that it is a lot easier to get into good deals without having the need for initial funding.
Pitfalls for angels investors looking to collaborate with CVCs
Here are the mistakes Ivo often sees that Angles often do:
- Angles that do not step back and hand over control to the CVC. Ivo advises that once you onboard them, you should take a more hands off approach and let them work for you
- Angels trying to oversell thier compnay to new investors as CVCs often know what they are investing in and can gauge the true value of what you are offering.
What advice would you give to angel investors?
- Check what the goal the CVC is set out to do? Is it just for internal innovation or more on the financial return?
- What are the terms of this CVC? Check if the terms are alligned and if you are able to continue to raise money in the future.
- Use this as an opportunity to exploit the wide range of reasources and networks you have access to when working with a CVC.
Session during the EBAN Annual Congress
During the EBAN Annual Congress, Ivo will be focusing on how to best leverage CVCs as an angel investor. He will also be touching on what you need to know as a co investor and how to start investing with CVCs.