On 11th April, during the 6th European Business Angels Network congress (www.eban.org), that took place in Prague, Tomasz Czechowicz â a Chairman of the Board of MCI Management SA announced the third edition of a Business Angel partnership programme run by MCI.
MCI Management S.A. intends to spend about 40 million PLN on new investments between 2006-2007 and execute 6-7 new projects, which would be in line with its business strategy.
MCI is interested in the investments in the following sectors:
Internet, E-commerce, Web2.0, Digital Content, Digital Entertainment, Mobile Internet, Wireless, Biotechnology, Life Science, and Software.
Business Angel 2.0, which was the previous edition of MCI partnership programme proved to be very successful.
In the scope of market penetration, the Fund analyzed 15 potential ventures, out of which a few projects were approved for further due diligence and negotiation process. As a result, MCI decided to make an investment in Hoopla.pl (e-commerce B2C â house hold goods & TV equipment) shop.
Hoopla.pl is an Internet shop specialized in the sale of household goods, electronic equipment, and hardware. The Fund invested in this project 800.000 PLN (ca. 200.000 euro). One of the MCI partners was granted 5% share in this venture and together with the Fund is supporting the business development of Hoopla as a its member of the supervisory board.
The purpose of Business Angel programme is the acquisition of attractive investment projects by MCI in the region of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and the Ukraine. The programme is geared to attract consulting firms and individuals, who have business acumen and experience and in addition to that, who would be interested in obtaining venture capital/private equity financing. Further co-investments with the Fund are also welcomed.
â The latest element of Business Angel programme is paying cash by the Fund for the projects. The project submission is awarded with a bounty award of 1000 -5000 euro. However, only the projects that are attractive to the Fund (subject to signing the letter of intent) will be taken into consideration. Further 2 levels of investment process are associated with the execution of underlined investment. Support in the project due diligence and analysis is awarded by the Fund with the 2.5% shareholding in the investment project and additionally, an optional 2.5% increase in shareholding is given during next co-investment rounds. If the investor is able to make a significant contribution to the business development of a new venture, he is entitled to increase its shareholding during the future investment rounds up to 15% of the initial investment made by MCI. In addition to that an investor can also participate in management buyout options programme â said Andrzej Jasieniecki an Investment Director of MCI Management SA .