Daruan VC, Interview with Founder David Ruiz de Andrés

David Ruiz de Andrés 2David Ruiz de Andrés, Spanish entrepreneur and investor, has just launched Daruan VC, a seed stage venture capital firm in Madrid.
In conjunction with the launch of the firm’s space in Madrid, David joined us and answered our questions.

FinSMEs: Hi David, thank you for joining us. Firstly, what’s your background?
David: Hello and thank you for having me. I studied Business Administration in the UK, a Law Degree at Universidad Autonoma in Madrid and a postgraduate at IESE. I have always been very entrepreneurish, anxious to learn things and embark myself on new ventures. So when I finished my undergraduate studies, I started my own company, MARP. It quickly started to grow and get global, and while it was consolidating, around the year 2007, I became very interested in renewable energy sources. That´s when I embarked on my second venture, Grenergy, which develops, builds and operates solar energy projects around the world. In the coming years I have started 3 other projects: LEFRIK.COM in retail, GREENPVHOUSE in organic agriculture & PV generation, and at one point I decided I wanted to help other people with bright ideas start their own businesses, which led me to start DARUAN Venture Capital in 2013.

FinSMEs: What’s Daruan Venture Capital? And what’s its focus and investment strategy?
David: Daruan Venture Capital is a small venture capital firm in Madrid, specialized on seed stage companies, that offers not only financing, but also all the knowledge and know-how I have acquired over the past fifteen years of running my own companies. We have recently opened a large workspace so that the businesses we support can have cheap office space and direct contact with the team at DARUAN VC, and so far things are going great.

FinSMEs: Personally, what do you like to see in entrepreneurs? What don’t you like to see in them?
David: The drive and ambition to really change the world, or at least the sector they are targeting, with a global ambition and a balanced team. It is important for entrepreneurs to really believe in themselves and in their idea, since this motivation is often a lot more convincing to investors than a perfectly planned pitch.

FinSMEs: Among tech trends…which one do you bet on personally?
David: I am a firm believer in renewable energy sources. Due to my own experience with Grenergy, I am more based towards solar energy and now developing our first wind projects, but renewable energy sources are potentially the biggest, relatively untapped market there is, and it’s just starting to explode. However, at DARUAN VC we are open to all kinds of innovative ideas, and are funding businesses as diverse as a LED lighting company (LDSAVINGS.COM), a manufacturer of Smart Thermostats (GREENMOMIT.COM) and a developer of educational APPs (DADA COMPANY).

FinSMEs: What about Madrid as a business hub?
David: Spain has always lagged behind the more active markets when it comes to entrepreneurship. Venture Capitalists and entrepreneurs usually flock to London, or go all out and try to go to Sillicon Valley if they are more tech based. However, young people in Spain are starting to discover their entrepreneurial drive, and Madrid is starting to become a very viable option for entrepreneurs to start their business with a very active investing community.. Madrid is certainly on its way to being an important business hub for entrepreneurs, even though it still has a long way to go.

FinSMEs

18/07/2014

 

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