Danube Angels for investors
What is the Danube Angels investor network?
The Danube Angels investor network was founded in 2017 with the mission to give everyone access to exciting investment opportunities in start-ups with moderate amounts starting from € 1.000 and thus support innovative business models and teams in Central Europe.
The basic idea of the network is simple: investments in early-stage companies are usually reserved for business angels or individual investors, as they make higher investments and thus have access to them. Through the Danube Angels investor network, several investors with manageable amounts join forces, gain access to promising companies and invest in these companies together, whereby each investor decides for himself in which company he would like to invest and which amount.
This means that demanding and risky projects can be implemented that a single investor would not support.
Why should you invest?
Without realising it, investors with balances in bank accounts/savings accounts/building society savings are slowly losing their wealth due to low interest rates coupled with current inflation. Therefore, it makes sense to consider other forms of investment with higher returns. Investments in company shares, such as those offered to the Danube Angels investor network, entail a number of risks that the investor must be prepared to bear. In any case, only a small part of the total assets should be invested. In addition, it is of particular importance to diversify the investment: five investments of EUR 1,000 are better than one of EUR 5,000!
Internationally, the expected return for this asset class is at least 25 to 35 percent per year. However, such a return can only be achieved with a diversified portfolio; the number of investments should not be less than ten.
The investor must also be able to cope with a total loss of the invested capital. Accordingly, the investment amounts should be chosen carefully and adjusted to the investor’s own financial situation.
Investment process
How can you invest?
Select an investment opportunity
Discover our actual investment opportunities on our community platformand select a growth company in which you would like to invest.
Sign the investment documents
Sign the investment documents electronically, which will be sent to you by e-mail.
Transfer the investment amount
Transfer your investment amount.
Closing of the transaction
We complete the rest of the investment process and you benefit in the future from profits and increases in value of the growth companies.
Profit chance through investments in companies
- Through shares in growth companies in Central Europe
- Participation in current profits and/or
- Profit share when the company is sold (exit)
- Build up exit opportunities in 5to 7 years and increase the value of the investment
- Promising but risky investment opportunities
- Lower minimum investment than usual in this asset class: EUR 1,000 minimum investment
The Danube Angels Participation Model
Once the negotiations with the founders have been concluded and all contracts have been drawn up, we present the investment opportunity to our investor network.
Subsequently, everyone has the opportunity to participate in the financing round from an minimum amount of € 1,000. Danube Angels’ 100% subsidiary and trustee company “Danube Angels Treuhand GmbH” bundles all investments and invests the pooled funds in the target company, provided that the minimum investment amount has been reached by the end of the financing round. Over the duration of the investment, it is held by the trustee and managed together with the Danube Angels – you do not have to spend time on this.
As soon as the company distributes profits, these are transferred to you by the trustee. In the event of a sale of the investment (exit), the proceeds will also be paid out to you. Danube Angels provides you with information about the development of the investment as well as the course of business and the implementation of the growth strategy during the entire term of the investment.
The most important characteristics of the Danube Angels investment model summarized
- Danube Angels does not offer fund solutions. You decide whether you want to invest in a company and if so, what amount.
- The investments of all investors are pooled by the trustee, who invests this money in the company if the financing was successful. The trustee and Danube Angels take care of the investment for all investors, participate in general meetings of the company and exercise voting rights for all investors.
- Investors receive quarterly information on the company’s business performance and the implementation of the growth strategy. And if something in the company does not go according to plan, you will be informed immediately. Should it be necessary, the trustee will hold a vote among the investors on the exercise of certain investor rights, in which the majority of the votes cast will decide.
- If the company distributes profits or sells shares in the company, these will be transferred to you minus a service and success-related fee.
Your advantages
Frequently asked questions
The Danube Angels investor network was founded in 2017 with our mission to give everyone access to exciting investment opportunities in startups with moderate amounts starting from € 1,000, thus supporting innovative business models and teams in Central Europe. The aim is to move idle funds from low-interest bank accounts into the real economy, where they foster growth, employment, investment in assets as well as technological progress, while having chances for higher returns. The founders are Peter Helesic, MBA, Jakob Hütthaler-Brandauer and Paul G. Putz, MBA.
The Danube Angels investor network already counts over 170 investors from 18 countries. The basic idea of the network is simple: Investments in early-stage companies are usually reserved for business angels or individual investors, as they make higher investments and thus have access to them. Through the Danube Angels investor network, several investors with manageable amounts starting from € 1,000 join forces, gain access to promising companies and invest together in these companies, whereby each investor decides for himself in which company he would like to invest which amount.
The Danube Angels network bundles the investments via a trustee, who then invests the collected funds in the equity of the growth companies and becomes the legal owner of the company. In the background, all Danube Angels investors who have co-invested in the respective company are beneficial owners of the company and are thus entitled to profits.
If successful, attractive returns are possible. However, no reliable forecasts of future returns can be made. In particular income earned in the past are no indicator of future revenues. Each investment can lead to a total loss of the invested capital. So, notably the following risks become important:
- Insolvency risk: This means the risk of insolvency of the issuer and regularly leads to a total loss.
- Malversation risk: This means the risk of criminal offences by employees/organs in the company of the issuer. This can never be excluded entirely. Misconduct can directly or indirectly harm the issuer and lead to an insolvency.
- Risk concentration: This means the risk that arises if an investor makes no or only a small diversification of his portfolio. An investment in only a few companies is therefore strongly advised against.
- Difficult transferability of assets: This means that investments in accordance with § 1 (1) Z 3 KMG are only transferable under certain conditions and that there is generally no market value. Investment sums must be chosen so low that even a longer holding period will cause no liquidity problems.
Danube Angels receives up to 100 financing requests per month from growth companies in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. From these inquiries, Danube Angels selects the most interesting and promising companies in a multi-stage selection process. In a first step, 85% of all financing requests are rejected because they do not meet our basic criteria:
- Financing volume: EUR 50,000 to EUR 500,000
- Company phase: late-seed/early-stage
- Industries: all industries, no pure project companies
- Strong and experienced team, no one-man companies
- Already products or services on the market or first revenues available
- Corporation with registered office in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia; or business activities in Central Europe
We invite the remaining 15% to a non-public presentation to introduce the founding team, its plans and to answer questions from our team. After this presentation we only enter into negotiations with a few regarding minimum or maximum investment, company valuation, extensive investor rights etc. in order to obtain the best conditions for our investor network. As a rule, we do not present more than one percent of the advertised companies to our Danube Angels network for investment.
Both natural persons and legal entities can invest in Danube Angels investment opportunities.
According to the Austrian Alternative Investments Act the investment sum per person and project may not be more than EUR 5.000 within 12 months. This limit can only be exceeded if the person or entity does not invest more than double of their average monthly income over 12 months or 10 percent of their financial fixed assets. This means, the investor must earn more than EUR 2.500 on a monthly average or have a financial fixed asset of at least EUR 50.000 to be allowed to invest more than EUR 5.000 per investment opportunity and year. There is no maximum investment amount for legal entities.
The yields can be different depending on the investment opportunity. However, no reliable forecasts of future returns can be made. In particular income earned in the past are no indicator of future revenues. For information on return opportunities, please refer to the respective investment description.
Maximum investment means the amount of money which will be maximally raised for a company. This amount can not be exceeded. The minimum investment lies under the maximum investment and is the minimum amount that must be raised to realise the financing round. Only after reaching the minimum investment the trust agreement becomes valid.
If the minimum amount is not achieved during the allotted time, you receive your invested money (plus any interest which may have been accrued during this timeframe) back within 14 days.
The invested capital will be held in trust by Danube Angels Treuhand GmbH, a 100 % daughter company of Danube Angels GmbH. If the minimum investment is exceeded by the end of the financing round, Danube Angels Treuhand GmbH receives the order to transfer the collected capital to the company and to manage the investment in trust for all investors. If the minimum investment is not reached during the term of the financing round, you will receive your investment amount back within 14 days.
- Choose an investment opportunity: discover our investment opportunities on our community platform and select a growth company in which you would like to invest.
- Sign the investment documents: electronically sign the investment documents that will be emailed to you.
- Transfer your investment amount.
- Closing of the financing round: we complete the rest of the investment process and you benefit in the future from profits and increases in value of the growth companies.
The investment term may vary depending on the investment opportunity. Information on the duration can be found in the respective investment description.
- Pre-selected companies from Central Europe: Danube Angels receives continuously financing applications and check them in advance for investors. Only around one percent of the applications meet our quality standards in terms of team, business model, scalability, market volume and USP and are introduced to our investor network.
- Investor protection: Each investment contract with the companies is negotiated personally by Danube Angels for our investor network. Therefore, you will always find the most important investor protection rights in these agreements.
- Participation by a trustee: You do not have to spend a lot of time looking after your investment. The trustee “Danube Angels Treuhand GmbH”, a 100% subsidiary of Danube Angels GmbH, manages and takes care of the investment together with Danube Angels. The trustee becomes a direct shareholder in the target company and exercises the shareholder rights for you and looks after the interests of all investors.
- Profit participation: You will not find a fixed interest rate with countless payout clauses in our contracts. If business is going well, you will receive a distribution. If the entire company is sold (exit), you receive your share of the sales proceeds.
- Transparency and reporting: You will find all information and documents for your investment decision in the investment description. Through the support of the trustee and Danube Angels, you will receive quarterly reports on the development of the company and other important events. And should you still have any questions, our team will be happy to assist you.
During the term, we regularly inform the respective invested investor about the development of his investment. This is done in two stages:
- Annual and quarterly reports on the investment(s) with information on the course of business and the status of the implementation of the growth strategy
- Individual information about important (extraordinary) incidents
If specific questions arise, you also have the possibility to contact Danube Angels at info@danubeangels.com at any time.
The assignment of rights of the trust agreement by the trustor is permitted. However, a partial assignment of rights of the trust agreement by the trustor is not allowed. Further information to the assignments of rights of the trust agreement can be found in the trust agreement of the investment opportunity.
The investor is obliged to pay taxes from distributions and capital gains individually (currently 27.5% for private taxpayers resident in Austria). If, in the case of distributions, the tax has been paid at source (by the paying company), no further tax is payable.
Please note: This paragraph is not tax advice – have your personal tax situation assessed by a tax advisor.
What our investors say
“The investment opportunities are clearly structured and contain all the documents for my investment decision.
This way investing is fun.”
„I appreciate the professional, regular and clear communication to the individual investments.”
