European Commission sets out five actions to support angel investors

The European Commission has announced five actions under its EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy aimed at helping business angels find investment opportunities and invest across borders. The Commission says the measures are intended to strengthen investor networks and improve access to early-stage projects.

The actions cover project matching, crowdfunding, co-investment, investor accreditation and access to the European Innovation Council (EIC) pipeline:

• The EU Innovation Platform would connect investors with innovators, offering angels and network managers a single gateway to EU-backed projects ready for investment.
• A workshop would connect crowdfunding communities with angel investors. Support for angel-led fundraising and investment across borders could follow.
• Work with InvestEU Advisory would map angel ecosystems and national co-investment programmes to establish where further support might be needed.
• European Angel Accreditation would provide a shared verification framework that member states could use when extending tax incentives and co-investment opportunities across borders.
• The European Angel Investor Network would bring business angels into the EIC Trusted Investor Network, giving them access to early-stage opportunities in the EIC pipeline.

The European Business Angels Network (EBAN) welcomed the proposals but urged further action to reduce fragmentation. It called for a streamlined European co-investment scheme, arguing that this would lower investors' risk and attract more capital for start-ups with scale-up potential wherever they are based.

EBAN also backed extending national co-investment schemes to countries without them and recognising accredited angels across borders. It said implementation should use existing investment networks, with clear timetables and measurable results for investors and founders.