PRESS RELEASE 17/03/2020 Management changes at LBAN and Strategy Review for 2020+

Management changes at LBAN and Strategy Review for 2020+

» Stephan Peters replaces Larissa Best as President of LBAN

» Diane Tea and Arnold Spruit replace Stephan Peters as Vice-Presidents

On Monday evening, the Annual General Assembly (AGA) of the Luxembourg Business Angel Network (LBAN) held announced the new LBAN Board, effective March 17th 2020. Due to the coronavirus, the association held its AGA online.

The AGA brought along changes, such as the new Board, which was voted in, and is now comprised of:

· Tom Baumert – Director

· Larissa Best – Director

· Damien Cabadi – Director

· Elias Chbeir – Director

· Romain Hoffmann – Director

· Philippe Linster – Treasurer

· Eric Nolen – Director

· Stephan Peters – President

· Arnold Spruit – Vice-President

· Diane Tea – Vice-President & Secretary

Larissa Best’s commitment to the association is widely recognised by its members. Under her leadership, LBAN grew to become an active player of the startup ecosystem in Luxembourg and in the Greater Region. With 70 individual Members, the first corporate Member, and EUR 6.9 million invested in 2019, the LBAN’s success is largely due to the dynamism of its community.

The new Board would like to thank Fabrice Testa, who will be leaving the Board, for everything he has done to help LBAN over the past few years. Each Board Member has taken the lead of a key activity within LBAN in order to grow and strengthen the organization further. In collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce, the House of Startups and Wildgen Law Firm, LBAN also launched the shareholders’ agreement template that will be accessible to the Members.

In 2019, the Members increased the invested capital to EUR 6.9 million, an increase by 25% compared to 2018, across more than 45 projects, an increase of 50%. The average ticket size remained between EUR 50,000 and 100,000. Co-investment opportunities have become easier with the launch of a new online investment tool in November. LBAN recognizes that there has been a notable increase in the quality of the start-ups looking for investment. This market development has encouraged new angel investors to join the association. The association now has 70 Members, an increase of 8% vs 2018. The AGA was also the opportunity to thank LBAN’s partners in the ecosystem. In particular, the Chamber of Commerce has been an active supporter and promotor of LBAN’s activities for many years. As the LBAN evolves, so do its relationships with the entire European ecosystem. LBAN is proactively working on bringing its cross-border counterparts into closer relationship with its Members, so that Luxembourg can be part of the growing dynamism and entrepreneurial enthusiasm that the Greater Region is currently witnessing. The AGA was also the opportunity to introduce Sonia Franck who succeeds Cécile Sevrain, Executive Director up to March 2019, and Philip Grother, excutive Director from March to June 2019. Sonia has hit the ground running by organizing the first LBAN Christmas Party as well as several other LBAN events and by successfully increasing LBAN’s profile in many publications, resulting in 30% more visitors and 89% more post views on LBAN website.

Stephan Peters has become the new President of the association. Stephan has been a Board Member of LBAN since 2017 and Vice-President & Secretary since 2019. LBAN’s strategy for 2020 aims to continue its successful events, build out its relationships with the ecosystem, expand its member base, facilitate investments into high-quality startups, and increase the profile of angel investing across Luxembourg and the Greater Region.

If you would like to find out more about the LBAN and how to make the most out of the organisation, feel free to get in touch via LinkedIn, the website or by email. For more information:

Sonia FRANCK

+352 671 210871

info@lban.lu

www.lban.lu

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