Maverick Angels, a Southern California-based angel investment group, announced its alliance with Italy’s Intesa SanPaolo Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in Europe, to create a new angel investor network based in Milan.
Commenting on the alliance, John Dilts, Founder and President of Maverick Angels, said: “We are very pleased to work together with Intesa SanPaolo on this important and vital new start-up initiative.
“We welcome the opportunity to bring our dynamic angel investment model to launch and successfully build a new entrepreneurial ecosystem in Italy”.
According to Dilts, “Italy is ready to break out with a new wave of successful entrepreneurs. The country is filled with high-quality start-up businesses which simply need the right venue and the proper guidance to show them the way toward funding and scalable growth.
“We are very proud to play a key role in this new entrepreneurial endeavor. This unique Italian angel investment network is coming at the right time, in the right place, with the right players to make it happen”.
Dilts and Chief of Operations Brian Wurfel presented a two-day Maverick Angels Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs in late September in Milan. Selected entrepreneurs and dozens of angel and venture capital investors from around Italy were invited to participate. More than 50 selected companies were invited to meet potential investors including angel investors, venture capitalists, seed funds and foundations from throughout Europe. Those 50 start-ups were filtered through a structured qualification process down to 14 of the best presenters at the Arena Meeting held on September 30th. Company presentations were followed by a Q&A session on economic, financial and technical issues. At the end of this Arena Meeting, presenters received more than 80 sign-ups for investor interest.
The next group of meetings for this new Start-Up Initiative hosted by Intesa SanPaolo in Milan will take place in January, April, June, September and November of next year.
The meetings will be open to hear presentations by entrepreneurs from the U.S. as well as Europe.
FinSMEs
17/11/2009