On March 3rd Crowd Valley COO, Paul Higgins spoke on a panel entitled 'Financing the Internet of Things' at the Annual Internet of Things European Summit in Brussels.
Now in its fifth year, the IoT Summit is established as the leading event of its kind, bringing together key stakeholders for discussions around both the critical policy dimensions and commercial opportunities in Europe.
Now in its fifth year, the IoT Summit is established as the leading event of its kind, bringing together key stakeholders for discussions around both the critical policy dimensions and commercial opportunities in Europe.
Access to both public and private funding is an essential ingredient for entrepreneurs and start-ups as they look to commercialise innovative IoT products and bring them to market. European policymakers and private investors recognise that the IoT is a key driver for economic growth and will help to accelerate European competitiveness.
In recent years, North America has been seen by many as the leading region to secure investment for emerging technologies. However, the European Commission has introduced new building blocks and resources to help promote innovation and enable new business models in Europe.
The panel discussed topics including:
Although the early success stories in equity crowdfunding for technology startups have come primarily from online web, mobile or gaming companies, there was strong interest from the audience in exploring options to use crowdfunding to raise capital for hardware and IoT platform technologies.
As the crowdfunding industry develops it will be interesting to see whether those platforms that have so far not focused on hardware-based tech startups, which may have higher initial capital requirements, find ways to support them as well. The alternative could be for new funding platforms to enter the market with a niche focus on hardware or even solely on the Internet of Things.
Image Credit: jurvetson. http://bit.ly/1s7oBhs
In recent years, North America has been seen by many as the leading region to secure investment for emerging technologies. However, the European Commission has introduced new building blocks and resources to help promote innovation and enable new business models in Europe.
The panel discussed topics including:
- What financial resources are available to European entrepreneurs?
- What is being done to maximise the impact of IoT innovation in Europe?
- What role can Venture Capitalists and Private Equity firms play in helping to drive IoT innovation forward?
- How stable is the current investment environment in Europe?
- Will the support from large telcos help smaller companies access funding?
Although the early success stories in equity crowdfunding for technology startups have come primarily from online web, mobile or gaming companies, there was strong interest from the audience in exploring options to use crowdfunding to raise capital for hardware and IoT platform technologies.
As the crowdfunding industry develops it will be interesting to see whether those platforms that have so far not focused on hardware-based tech startups, which may have higher initial capital requirements, find ways to support them as well. The alternative could be for new funding platforms to enter the market with a niche focus on hardware or even solely on the Internet of Things.
Image Credit: jurvetson. http://bit.ly/1s7oBhs
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