Danish Business Angels (DanBAN) and its members have made hundreds of investments in both Danish and foreign start-ups. The latest figures from the annual member survey of 2020 activities show that DanBAN’s nearly 250 Business Angels have joined forces and invested approximately DKK 365 million (49 mill.€) in start- ups – that is investments equivalent to an average of DKK 1 million per day in 2020. In addition, since 2016, the total investments have amounted to an accumulated total of DKK 1.1 billion (147 mill.€).
DanBAN’s 2020 annual member survey shows that the covid-19 pandemic has not affected the Business Angels interest in investing. On the contrary, the number of investments has increased by almost 75%, resulting in 365 investments in growth-stage businesses in 2020. This has resulted in DanBAN reaching a total investment sum of DKK 1.1 billion for the first time over the past 5 years. In 2020 alone, the total investment sum was DKK 365 million (49 mill.€), which is an increase of almost 42% compared to 2019. The median investment (“ticket size”) in a company has increased by 15% to DKK 220,000 (30.000€) per Business Angel.
The members of the association have despite the circumstances of the pandemic managed to achieve the same competitive returns as in 2019. The analysis shows that the MoneyBackMultiple (MBM) in 2020 is equivalent to 3.0, which is similar to the previous year’s same high level. This figure is based on the 32 exits made in 2020, an increase of 10% compared to last year’s exits. The high level of engagement is also reflected in the number of member co-ownerships in companies, which this year is at an average of 5.5 companies with a median of 4.
Vækstfonden, as one of our partners, is also an important source of capital for early stage companies. Our member survey shows that the products of Vækstfonden have leveraged our members’ investments with DKK 320 million in loans. This has resulted in a total of almost DKK 700 million (94 mill. €) in capital provided to Danish start-ups through DanBAN.
With over 270 members today, DanBAN is Denmark’s largest professional non-profit network for Business Angels. DanBAN has an annual deal flow of 600 start-ups. DanBAN is an association that is 100% privately funded by its members and partners. Capital seeking start-ups can freely get in touch with the association’s members at no cost. DanBAN’s many members possess hands-on knowledge as former successful entrepreneurs who are now re-investing their time and part of their wealth in the next generation of passionate entrepreneurs.
In 2020, the members of DanBAN consisted of 90.1% men and 9.9% women and members’ ages varied from 27 to 80 years. The average tenure as a Business Angel is just under 8 years but stretches all the way to an astounding 46 years. Among start-ups, 16.9% consist of mixed teams of both female and male founders. More than 20% of start-ups have at least 1 female founder.
Quote: Jesper Jarlbæk, Chairman of the Board “DanBAN’s annual survey is without comparison the best mapping of Business Angel activities in Denmark and probably also in Europe. In a year challenged by CoVID-19, DanBAN achieved progress on all fronts. Our investment rate grew by more than 40% and with Vækstfonden, we secured more than DKK 700 million to Danish start-ups. This creates the jobs of the future and contributes to the well-being of us all.”
Quote: Michael Hansen, CEO “This year’s membership analysis shows that our members have found an extra gear through the crisis and increased investment activity. We briefly saw members hedging their existing portfolio before actively investing again. With the results from 2020, we can see that we helped to keep a steady hand under the Danish start-ups and more provided working capital than ever before, and we are quite proud of that.”