• As usual, Bucharest-based co-investment platform SeedBlink wrapped up 2023 with its annual report
• The recession lead investors to diversify their portfolios, and the platform managed to benefit from this tendency
• The company looks into the future with optimism as its plans for 2024 begin to come true

At the beginning of 2024, Romania’s famous crowd investment platform SeedBlink published its annual report that showcased the milestones of the company’s development – of which there were quite a few, highlighted key market trends, and made some cautious forecasts. With Q1 2024 behind us, we can look back at it to see how well it holds up.

‘Rising inflation, volatile public markets, a looming global recession, unfortunate international wars, and more have restricted post-pandemic recoveries. But, despite these significant headwinds, SeedBlink has continued to support some of the most innovative startups in Europe that are building the products and services that will shape the world of tomorrow,’ SeedBlink’s President of BoD Andrei Dudoiu suggests.

In Recap

Revisiting SeedBlink’s 2023 milestones, they were as follows:

• In March, the platform announced the launch of its secondary market to individual investors, signifying SeedBlink’s further effort in democratizing VC investments.
• In June, well after 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.
• The same month, the platform announced further investment plans. The expansion to the DACH region was realized through cooperation with local investors.
• Also in June, SeedBlink entered into a strategic partnership with Equidam, the Dutch startup valuation platform. It is meant to help fundraising startups to get a better perspective of their valuation in a fair and transparent way.
• In August, SeedBlink presented Nimity – its one-stop shop for handling cap table tracking, investor governance and communication, fundraising, and other crucial aspects To facilitate equity management for both startups and stakeholders.
• In September, SeedBlink presented Community Stars – a new type of investment rounds, specifically tailored for very early stage startups, with a ticket size of as little as EUR 500 (Unison became the first startup with a Community Stars campaign on SeedBlink).
• In October, the company unpacked its Fall Release of four new equity tools, including Community Stars, NimityLink, Simulations, and Equibot.
• Finally, in December, SeedBlink started its monthly Startup Insights Hours – a series of online pitching events with startups that are currently campaigning or have recently concluded their campaigns on SeedBlink.

Here’s how 2023 looked like for CEE’s leading co-investment platform in numbers:

• In four years, SeedBlink reports over EUR 815M in asset ownership and EUR 342M in startup investing mobilized for over 250 companies from 15 countries with EUR 67M raised through SeedBlink’s community of investors.
• In 2023, the largest share of rounds is for Seed funding with 41%.
• The top five funded verticals were B2B SaaS (EUR 67M), AI/ML (EUR 55M), FinTech (EUR 9M), Marketplace (EUR 8.5M) and MedTech (EUR 5.5M).
• The average investor portfolio value on SeedBlink is EUR 6.2K, the largest being more than EUR 900K
• Most investor portfolios include 5 or more companies, the largest one counting 49.
• The average investment ticket is EUR 5.6K, with record ticket size reaching EUR 5ooK.

Crowd Investment as a Diversification Tool

It was discussed that venture capital’s response to the recession was diversification, i.e. funds began to enter more deals but with smaller tickets. Meanwhile, SeedBlink had the biggest number of deals in its history in 2023. SeedBlink’s head of revenue Eric Bartha agrees that investors’ desire to mitigate risk through diversification, engaging in a greater number of deals with smaller investment amounts could have played a role in SeedBlink’s increased number of deals.

According to Mr Bartha, several factors contributed to this outcome:

• The shift in venture capital strategy likely increased the pool of available funding, particularly for startups. SeedBlink capitalized on this trend, drawing in a higher volume of startups in search of investment.
• By offering smaller investment sizes, we reduced the barrier to entry, making it more feasible for early-stage companies to secure funding. Our new initiative for pre-seed companies also incentivized a wider range of entrepreneurs to use SeedBlink as a funding platform, further boosting the number of deals.
• SeedBlink’s geographic expansion and the maturation of our business have naturally enhanced our capacity to connect with and finance more companies across Europe.

What 2024 Holds

From this point, SeedBlink looked into 2024 with cautious optimism and announced significant plans. For instance, an Experts Network was made available to provide support in fundraising and business operations.

‘The network brings together a cadre of experts who are committed to innovation, collaboration, and knowledge sharing alongside the SeedBlink team. Membership includes active ambassadors from the NimityLink program, investors who are deeply engaged with the SeedBlink community, and domain experts from diverse tech sectors. Members contribute in various ways, including providing feedback on product features, sharing expertise through content creation and educational events, advocating for the SeedBlink brand, and engaging with the broader community of investors and alumni,’ SeedBlink’s community manager Luiza Amzolin explains.

Additionally, the platform’s product manager Vlad Tudose announced 2024 Nimity upgrades, focusing on streamlining the investment process with a suite of enhancements:

• Customizable user roles and permissions should allow for a more tailored platform experience.
• An audit trail feature should track transaction changes, ensuring transparency and accountability.
• The data room should see improvements for better document management and access.
• Portfolio features should be refined to provide users with more comprehensive tools for managing their investments.
• Additional reporting templates should be introduced to cater to specific geographic requirements.
• Governance issues should also be addressed to further streamline operations.

Notably, some features should be introduced as part of the existing Nimity offering, while others may come with additional fees.

SeedBlink doesn’t announce any geographic expansions. According to Mr Bartha, the intent is to enter markets with a substantial number of companies, funding opportunities, and investors where crowd investment would complement the existing ecosystem.

‘Embedded in our ethos is a commitment to European expansion, moving methodically to engage the entire continent while optimizing the potential of new markets and ensuring resource efficiency,’ Mr Bartha adds.

SeedBlink firmly stepped into 2024 with a decisive focus on making equity ownership simpler and more empowering for everyone. The platform’s CEO Carmen Sebe is convinced that this year will be a better year for tech startups, and there are three core reasons for that: a growth rebound, potential increases in venture capital investment, and an optimistic IPO market.