Avi talking about VoiVoda Ventures at Startup Blagoevgrad

Eleven, LaunchHub, Neveq and Voivoda Ventures at StartUP Representatives of the investment funds Eleven, LaunchHub, Neveq and Voivoda Ventures gathered together on March 31 – the second day of the StartUP Conference 2013. Daniel Tomov, Irina Dimitrova, Valentin Oreshkov, Georgi Kadriev, Zlatolina Mukova and Avgustina Pasheeva introduced the audience to the important role that venture funds can play for the future of starting entrepreneurs.

Daniel Tomov, the co-founder of the Accelerator Venture fund Eleven started the presentation. He explained that Eleven is a fund that supports ideas in their initial phase. Tomov said that the Accelerator program lasts for 3+3 months where the chosen businesses receive 25 000 euro for the first 3 months in exchange to 8% stake in the company for the investors and 25 000 euro for the second 3 months with 4 to 6 % stake. After that, Eleven can provide up to 200 000 euro for the starting company. Tomov also explained the application process. After online application at the site of the fund, the candidates pass a pre-selection and eventually go to interviews. Those who are selected, work with mentors intensely to improve their ideas and then they present those ideas. If their product is approved, young entrepreneurs further improve it, commercialize it and finally present it at the official Demo Days in Sofia and London.

Valentin Oreshkov, a scout for new ideas, and team advisor and mentor for LauncHub, explained the function of the fund. LauncHub is an accelerator that mainly invests in IT sector projects from Eastern and Central Europe. Georgi Kadriev, also a scout for LauncHub and one of the founders of Imagga, focused more on the steps required for successful application. He said that the dedicated team is the crucial element for success. Kadriev also stressed on the importance of the business potential of the project- it should serve a large market. Irina Dimitrova, Chief Financial Officer of LauncHub also joined the conversation later on.

Zlatolina Mukova presented Neveq, where she is an executive investor. She explained that NEVEQ is a fund that invests in companies that are already on the next level- they have developed a product and have some customers. Mukova said that the companies that Neveq has invested in are now selling their products all over the world and have clients such as Lufthansa and Amadeus.

The next lecturer was Avgustina Pasheeva-an AUBG alumnus and part of the VoiVoda Ventures team. VoiVoda Ventures is a family fund that is providing angel funding. ” “Angel funding” means that we invest our own money that we acquired from companies that we started and then sold,” Pasheeva explained. VoiVoda Ventures works in the B2B (Business to Business) sphere and has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sofia. The fund offers investments ranging from $500 000 to $1 500 000 while their personal stake varies betweeen $25 000 to $100 000. [...] More information can be read from the source of the article AUBG Daiy.

   Climate Minder Acquired by RainBird on 14th of December

ClimateMinder, one of Voivoda Ventures first investments, recently closed an M&A transaction that led to them being acquired by RainBird, an industry leader based in California. ClimateMinder is a startup originally from Turkey that produces technology solutions for the agriculture industry which can help save on irrigation costs by over 30%. They were founded in 2008 and came to the States in 2009 after an investment round led by Voivoda Ventures. Over the course of the last three years, Voivoda Ventures incubated the company, providing strategic advice and several rounds of follow on investment which led to the development of a cutting edge technology which is a market leader in its field. ClimateMinder has deployments throughout the USA with well known clients such as Monsanto, Driscoll, and Bolthouse farms.

Voivoda Ventures was at their side the entire time, from fund raising, to business development, to assisting in the M&A negotiations that recently closed.This is Voivoda Ventures 5th M&A transaction in the last 5 years; their 2nd one in 2012. Voivoda has a total of 15 companies in its portfolio, with 9 just recently added in 2012. More information can be read here.

   VoiVoda is visiting Chile and Argentina

Argentina and Chile are the next stops for our VP Andy Bartley and Program Director Emil Babajov. Our team members will spent 10 days in the two countries from 21st of August till 31st of August. Due to his extensive experience in the startup field, Andy is invited for a second year to be a judge at the largest event of its kind in Latin America Demo Day: Start-up Chile on August 30th. The event will be broadcasted on live streaming, so if you are not present, you will have the opportunity to learn more about Chile’s best entrepreneurs and investors.

Our representatives will be in Santiago on 28th till 31st. Prior to the Demo Day on 21st of August, Andy and Emil will stop at Buenos Aires to meet with the most prominent startups from the region, as well as investors from around the world. Even though their schedule is busy, if you want to meet them, contact us at contact@voivoda.com. Don’t miss your opportunity to present your idea and potentially become our portfolio company.

   VoiVoda is visiting Canada

Our Managing Partner, Val Babajov will be visiting one of the best conferences in Vancouver, BC on August 22nd-24th Grow, 2012. Press judges include TechCrunch,GigaOm, VentureBeat, RedWriteWeb and investors judges from 500startups,SoftTechVC. If you want to meet with him and have the chance to pitch, contact us at contact@voivoda.com.