Carsten Schneider of Osborne Clarke presents the German public investment grant for business angels
Ecosummit TV: Carsten Schneider is a Partner of the law firm Osborne Clarke in Cologne, Germany. At ECO13 Berlin, he gives an overview of the new German law called “Investitionszuschuss Wagniskapital” that was launched on 15 May 2013 and is managed by BAFA (Federal Office of Economics and Export Control). The law constitutes a public venture capital subsidy for private investors that get a 20% investment grant for their investments into startups. The target group are business angels (natural persons or their solely owned investment vehicles that are based in the EU). As many angel rounds consist of a syndicate of angels, a single investor may get this grant for investments of maximum €250K per year. Per startup investments of up to €1M per year will be supported. Eligible startups must have their headquarter in the EU, a registered office in Germany, less than 50 employees and maximum €10M revenues. While Carsten believes that this grant will have an impact on shareholder agreements, it is a very good initiative for angels and the startups they support.
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