Sophia Business Angels

Angels investing their own money on the Riviera

Sophia Business Angels is a collective of private investors who back early-stage start-ups from their own pockets, with concepts they see as innovative and commercially promising. Its members are, or have been, entrepreneurs or corporate executives with international experience, and they now put that experience into backing business ideas and coaching chief executives and their teams. The group was founded in Sophia Antipolis on the French Riviera in 2002 and now has more than forty members across Europe, the United States, the Gulf and Asia.

The group is part of the European Business Angels Network and of France Angels, and it works closely with other angel groups and partners. It describes that global network as its greatest strength when looking for opportunities that create shared value.

Start Up Factory and the quarterly evenings

The Start Up Factory is a regular evening event in Sophia Antipolis, the entrepreneurial hub of the Côte d'Azur. It is held each quarter and conducted in French. Founders with a live project, or just a notion, attend and meet angels, bankers and other specialists who work around young companies. The site notes that some startups pitch to an audience of around 150 people.

Venture Academy, a pitching and coaching program

The SBA Venture Academy is a pitching and coaching event run jointly with the SKEMA International Business School. It takes place twice a year, in April and October, and is conducted in English. The program starts with coaching on a Thursday afternoon, continues with pitching on Friday morning, adds more coaching and ends with a final pitching session. On the Friday, the three companies judged most investable take home prizes, and ten selected companies receive personalized coaching from business angels and industry experts. Three networking occasions run alongside, including cocktails on the Thursday and Friday and a lunch on the Saturday.

Start Up Invest and seed finance for high-tech companies

Start Up Invest is a seed-financing event for high-tech companies. A dozen entrepreneurs each present their company to a panel of investors and business angels who are looking for projects with high potential.

Financing, mentoring and what members receive

For startups, the group offers financial support alongside human support. Where one or more members or partners select a company, they can make a capital contribution. The group also runs regular pitching and networking events to sharpen a founder's story, business plan and readiness for investment. A multilingual team of international professionals mentors founders and their teams, and it can introduce them to peer angel networks, lenders and private equity houses to raise further finance.

Members, in turn, have access to a shared database, a deal-flow process for reviewing submitted projects, a common investment community and a calendar of events open to the wider network.