• Romanian co-investment platform SeedBlink entered into a strategic agreement with Italian Doorway
• The platforms can now share their portfolios and investor networks
• The double validation procedures for startups also provide additional confidence for investors

SeedBlink, the well-known Bucharest-based crowd investment platform, has covered yet another milestone in its ambition of pan-European expansion. Having established a strong presence in Bulgaria, Greece, and the Benelux region, SeedBlink now set an eye on Italy as the platform announced a strategic partnership with Italian co-investment platform Doorway.

SeedBlink in a Nutshell

SeedBlink was established in 2020 with the goal to empower retail investors, and ITKeyMedia has been following the platform’s progress closely. Having promptly set a firm foot in Romania, SeedBlink opened offices in Bulgaria and Greece, which became the company’s first major step in becoming a Europe-wide player. The next major steps were the acquisition of the Dutch co-investment platform Symbid to enter the Benelux markets and the ECSPR certification to provide the legal framework for EU-wide crowd investment.

‘The growth of the European tech sector looks promising, but the fragmentation of the investment market across countries with each having their own corporate legal system, is not really beneficial. The challenge, therefore, is to build a European network with local representation in each country,’ SeedBlink’s managing partner Ionuț Pătrăhău points out.

As of now, SeedBlink’s network of over 70,000 investors raised EUR 60M+ for European tech startups. The platform allows to invest as little as EUR 2.5K per ticket (or even EUR 1K with club subscription), but the minimal investment ticket is established by startups for each campaign. SeedBlink’s secondary market provides additional liquidity to the shares and has no minimum ticket size.

Doorway in a Nutshell

Doorway was founded in 2019 and is primarily aimed as a tool for co-investment in startups with an ESG focus. Its operations are largely similar to SeedBlinks, the key differences being the minimal entry ticket of EUR 5K and targeting private bankers rather than private investors. Additionally, Doorway’s CONSOB certification only provides the legal framework for co-investment activities in Italy.

Nevertheless, the company has the ambition of international expansion, and the strategic partnership with SeedBlink is not the first step in this direction. Previously, Doorway has secured a similar agreement with Ourcrowd, an Israeli-born global investment platform. Doorway also has an office in Brussels.

Doorway has helped 35 innovative startups with significant social impact and an emphasis on diversity raise over EUR 20M.

‘We’re thrilled to partner with SeedBlink, the leading tech-specialized venture investment platform in Europe. Our partnership will provide Doorway’s investor community with access to SeedBlink’s top-tier European tech startups and scale-ups. This is a unique opportunity for our investors to participate in some of the most promising startups in Europe and beyond,’ Doorway’s CEO Antonella Grassigli states.

‘Essentially, both platforms are having a similar mission, looking at innovation and growth ambitions as the key criteria for the opportunities proposed to investors,’ Mr Pătrăhău adds.

Consolidated Effort and Increased Confidence

The strategic partnership does not necessarily presuppose any concrete cooperation or integration but rather solidifies the intention of joining forces. ‘We believe that creating a highly diversified portfolio, through the combined screening and validation expertise of Doorway and SeedBlink, can bring a real advantage in terms of economic value creation for our investors,’ Ms Grassigli hints.

It is left to assume that the campaigning startups will now be offered to have their shares listed on both SeedBlink and Doorway. Seeing how the two platforms both have their screening and validation procedures, such partnership provides an additional level of security for the investor. In other words, a startup that is listed on both platforms and has been vetted by both will enjoy more investor’s confidence, which is particularly important today, during the global decrease in investments.

Naturally, the strategic partnership is also in line with the platforms’ shared ambition of strong international presence. ‘Doorway’s leadership in Italy will bring our investors unique access to high-potential investments with an Italian DNA, validated by a local knowledgeable player. The partnership is in line with our goal to effectively connect investors and tech startups on a single European platform, building a financial ecosystem that will support the development of a European tech hub,’ Mr Pătrăhău explains.

Resulting from the partnership, SeedBlink’s and Doorway’s networks of investors gain access to a dynamic portfolio of high-profile deals in both early-stage and follow-on rounds, and the startups get access to an extended pool of international VCs for pre-commitment. The platforms’ joint double expertise also provides an additional layer of trust between the startups and their investors.