Advantage Austria Pitch Days in London: Austrian Startups meet UK Investors (16. – 17.10.2014)

Around 50 guests followed the invitation of the Austrian Trade Commission (AWO) on Thursday 16, October in the London, near Hyde Park for the first “Austrian Pitch Days” in Britan. 20 carefully selected companies, have been invited to present their business models and products to top-tier UK Business Angels.

“Our startups did well,” said Bernd Litzka of the i2 business angels, right after the competitive Pitch Event. Jenny Tooth (Managing Director of UK Business Angels) announced two winning startups, which got the best feedback from the crowd. zizooboats.com and www.courseticket.com convinced most of the attending investors at the venue to have a promising business case. Blitab – a project idea for an iPad for visually handicapped people – received the social award of this event.

Markus Kainz of courseticket stressed that his team was ready to expand his business into UK, if investors are willing to support this step. “The energy in London is simply fantastic” the young entrepreneur said with a big smile. The UK market is the most exciting in Europe for courseticket.com – the #1 marketplace for Education in Austria with more than 10.000 listed courses.

Events, like this one – supported by the Austrian Trade Commission – are very important to build trust and a strong network, both crucial to enter a new market. “Startups need international stakeholders to support them in the process of growth and new market entries”, Berthold Baurek-Karlic (Managing Partner, Venionaire Capital) explained to the press.