Monday, June 20, 2016

Nearly 3 billion zł for start-ups. Old money, new approach – Wyborcza.biz

The government przytupem, because with the participation of the president and the PiS deputy Mateusz Morawiecki and Jaroslaw Gowin, Impact’16 announced at a conference in Krakow that will invest in start-ups. He announced program “Start in Poland”, which will be part of PFR Ventures (a part of the Polish Development Fund). In press materials written that PFR Ventures is to be “a platform of equity investments in innovative companies at an early stage of development.”

– We want to encourage private capital to engage in projects with higher risk, but potentially high rate of return. We are committed to funding new technologies and Polish products and services that can succeed in the global market – said Pawel Borys, President of the Polish Development Fund SA. – Today is not well. National Capital Fund has invested in the company 200 million zł for ten years, we want to shake the market and to invest 2.8 billion zł in five years – says Boris.

The government argues that Poland “has a chance to stand up and develop activities 1.5 thousand. companies creating high quality innovative technologies able to compete in foreign markets. ” – We want to spin in the economy, so that people once again believe that Poland can do innovative business. These projects were created after months of consultations with environmental start-ups and investors in response to their attention and needs – says Deputy Minister of development Jadwiga Emilewicz, which takes care of the program “Start in Poland”.

Deputy Emilewicz mentioned, too, that under discussion in the government, whether at all and how it could be used to open pension funds to invest in innovative projects.

you the investor, not dotacjodawca

the 2.8 billion zł is not “new money”, only means that Poland already has the use of EU funds, mainly from the operational program “Innovative economy”. Will be diverted.

So what actually changed?

– The European Union and other developed countries are moving away from a system of business support grants, and guided toward the state as an investor. That supported the capital, and if the business is successful, that on the earned and reinwestowało funds in new projects – says Pawel Borys, President of the Polish Development Fund.

But the state – in general, because there will be some exceptions – will not be directly buy shares in start-ups. – Carefully choose the manager, we agree on the terms of cooperation. To achieve our goals, you have to trust him – says Jadwiga Emilewicz, Deputy Minister of development.

Under the umbrella PFR Ventures created five investment funds closed (with fancy names: Starter FIZ, Biznest FIZ, Open Innovations FIZ Bridge VC FIZ and Koffi FIZ). Each of them will invest in private venture capital investment funds (up to half their value), and only they will invest in a variety of ways in young, innovative, and therefore risky start-ups. Each of these five state funds will have a slightly different specialization: investments in cooperation with the “business angels”, investments in businesses where you have to research and development, or those who need money for international expansion.

The structure of the PFR Ventures

– We will not enter with shoes – rounds out the president Boris.

This is a departure from the manual control may be a response to complaints private investors. Until now, when we collaborated with the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development and the National Capital Fund, officials were conservative and – as he said, “Election,” one of them – “I always prefer to vote ‘no’, because it’s safer.”

Land that trust

the idea is this: if a private investor puts his money in start-up X it means that you’ve verified that the business plan is in order that young entrepreneurs are hardworking and have the necessary expertise, that there is a market for what they invented. Then the state can invest less risk, and does not need to engage officials to evaluate the ideas of young entrepreneurs, as officials – in contrast to private investors – do not know how.

Action in the form of a company, not the agency, also allows pay more to attract managers and market experts. The head of the fund, Paul Boris is a man outside the policy, present for several years in the financial market.

The investment process is to be professional, engaged to be professional investors. PFR Ventures is to invest up to 50 per cent. funds with a value of 20 million zł to 800 million zł.

Of those 2.8 billion zł 1.05 billion zł will be allocated for start-ups at the beginning of the road (including the shelling of the most interesting and innovative ideas, cost-effectiveness analysis) and 1.75 billion zł for the development of already existing businesses (including the implementation of the mass production and the development of research and development activities); to pilot 35 million zł will be allocated to businesses that are in the middle, scattering the up. The latter project is called Scale Up. PARP in regulating it, and its details can already be found on the website of PARP.

PFR Ventures will be formally established in July. Details of the project will be presented by the Polish Development Fund in September. The first investment agreements are to appear in November.

Investment funds shares in start-ups do not buy forever just to them after a few years to sell and earn well. Investment Horizon Ventures PRF is about ten years.

2.8 billion? And a little, and a lot

– The few billion is hardly as much as he can invest one private fund from the US or Western Europe – said “Election” one of the investors on the sidelines of the conference Impact’16, where the government draft was shown.

But there were other opinions. – It is the mass of money. After all, to them, still they will make the private investors, so the 2.8 billion zł you can safely multiply by two. The question is what we will do with them. In Poland, the market innovation is shallow and there are only a few funds that can manage innovation, achieve ranks it to Western markets – says Piotr Przewrocki, entrepreneur, investor, “business angel”.

Some investors pointed out that money alone is not enough to drive innovative business. – In Poland, the conditions to conduct innovative business, we observe rather the lack of an adequate number of talents and good projects. Annually, we review a thousand projects, and invest in ten – said Marek Borzestowski fund Giza Polish Ventures on one of the panels of the conference Impact’16.

– We must build a culture of trust and cooperation, but also the appropriate treatment failures. Not only rise after defeats, but also stories about them, about conclusions, but also nieskreślania people who they have suffered – says Pawel Borys.

Fund PZU will promote Poland?

the question of whether the state investor will have the appropriate number of partners in the form of private funds. At the moment in Poland is only a few professional, large venture funds that teach money on small, risky start-ups. Another may develop from scratch encouraged the participation of state money, part of the sprofesjonalizuje, but it’s still not enough. The ambition of Paul Boris the Polish Development Fund is to work them in our tens.

– I hope that large companies will post your funds as PZU – said President Boris Wednesday.

I probably incomplete accident on Thursday PZU organized a conference, which provided the name for your new investment fund (created together with the National Centre for Research and Development). The Fund will be called Witelo (from the medieval Polish scholar) and will be managed by TFI PZU.

– Why can startupowy hub in London and Berlin, and not in Warsaw? – Asked at the conference, Paul Cole, a member of the Management Board of PZU Zycie responsible for the new project. – After the analysis, we concluded that the lack of adequate funds. They are more important than it seems. They have the ability to dereference good ideas bring international contacts, are able to improve management in a young company and carry it to the global level, because it is not only capital, but also knowledge – said Cole.

The group insurance invest in new fund of 250 million zł. – Witelo Fund intends to invest resources in the world’s leading VC funds in order to promote among them Polish as a place for investment and innovative projects – emphasizes Paul Cole. – At the same time we tell them: if you establish a company in Poland or transfer it to the Polish, will start the second part of the program, in which NCBR will be involved in projects in the form doinwestowaniu koinwestycji and grants. That will make this investment even more attractive – says Cole.

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