BiD Network, a provider of investment-readiness and dealmaking services, is organizing an investors trip to “meet Uganda's promising SMEs”.
The 5-day annual investor trip will take place from November 18 - 23. With a network of over 200 angel investors, BiD Network brings some of its members on such trips to take a look at some of the ventures they might be interested in investing in.
“During the trips, we offer potential investors the opportunity to visit a number of pre-selected and well-prepared businesses from our portfolio,” wrote BiD Network. Adding that it enables them to “share knowledge and possibly co-invest with other like-minded investors.”
Currently, BiD Network is made up of both institutional and angel investors "from all over the world, but predominantly the Netherlands".
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On this particular trip, between 5 to 10 investors are expected to join according to Alyanne Boon, an Investor Relations Manager with BiD Network.
They began doing the trips in 2016 and this year will be the fourth trip following three successful trips - one in 2016 and two last year.
Although they held two last year, Alyanne informed me that they are cutting back and will be settling with only a trip a year. Additionally, they will are planning to start an annual investor trip to Rwanda from next year.
On such trips, the highlight is the deal-making event. At these events, they invite SMEs to pitch to potential investors and are given an opportunity to network afterward.
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So far, all the trips have resulted in investments being made into some of the SMEs that pitch at those events or those they tour. “We've always managed to get two or three investments per trip,” said Stayce Nimusiima, a Growth Officer at BiD Network, in an interview.
Yet, last year stood out for them.
According to Stayce, a couple of investments have been made by the angel investors since last year and most of them are attributed to last year’s trip. “10 investments have been made from last year [and] 6 out of those came [about] because of the investor trip,” she said.
What is interesting is that the amount of the ticket sizes per investee is likely to go up this time around. “The average investment [last year] was around $130,000 [but] for this trip, we are working with ticket sizes of about 200,000,” Alyanne said.
This implies that they will be interested in ventures whose investment need is at most $200,000. Beyond the investment amount, their focus also centers around ventures that have a social impact element.
When it comes to sectors, Alyanne maintains that they are ‘sector agnostic’ but adds that they prefer certain sectors because of their experience in them.
“We are sector agnostic but we do focus on some particular sectors like fintech, agriculture, renewable energy, and health care services,” she said. Adding that those are the ones they are “most experienced in that but [still] open [to others].”
Previously, BiD Network hasn’t been very much active when it comes to technology. Something I have always considered their weakness. Though, Alyanne informed me that this time around, they got an investor who might be interested in funding technology ventures.
“At the moment, we have an investor joining the trip who is interested in technology companies,” she said.
If you’re would like to be among those companies, they only have 12 slots and applications close by 15 September. Check out the details here.