Investor & Startup News from Dealum

We have already covered the red flags of angel investing, but when considering an investment, it’s equally important to notice the characteristics of the company that make it stand out from the competition. From a strong founding team to capital efficiency, we’ve listed the core factors to predict future success. Of course, investing in startups is always a risk, but you can’t build a strong company on a weak foundation. The more boxes you can check for a startup, the higher the probability of a successful investment. What should you pay attention to? 1. Strong founding team The founding team is the backbone of any startup. A strong founding team has the right mix of experience, skills, and passion to help the startup succeed. Here’s what to look for when evaluating a startup’s founding team: Industry experience: Look for founders who have at least 3 years of relevant experience to make sure they understand the industry and the market. For example, for building a fintech startup, it’s good to have...

Founding your own startup is an exciting time, a time full of hopes, dreams, and promises. Who has time for mundane legal technicalities when you’re building the future, right? Wrong. Although startups are supposed to move fast and break things, being sloppy with your legal documents can break the company in the long run. And often it’s not something you can fix on the go. Mistakes you’ve made in the very beginning can come and haunt you, your company, AND your investors for years or decades to come. We can’t stress enough how important it is to get your legal ducks in a row before you start talking to investors. Where laws and regulations are concerned, failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s always easier (and cheaper) to prevent legal problems than to solve them. In this article, we'll walk you through the key legal basics of starting a startup off on the right foot. Pick the right type of legal entityRegister your businessProtect your intellectual propertyCreate legal documentationUnderstand...

The tech industry has a diversity problem. Despite efforts to increase inclusivity, minority founders are still heavily underrepresented in the startup world. So much so that women-led startups receive less than 3% of VC funding, Latinx only 2% and Black founders a mere 1%. But why should you care? Besides basic human decency. Because diversity is not only a social issue but also a smart investment strategy. The untapped potential of minority founder startups Throughout history, white men have held power, which has led to seeing their views and experiences as the norm. When the white Western male is the “standard” for startup founders, we’re missing out on the perspectives, experiences, and needs of people who are not white, male, or Western. Why is this a problem? Firstly, this perspective reinforces systemic inequalities and perpetuates bias and discrimination. And subsequently, it limits innovation and progress by only valuing a narrow set of perspectives and ideas. Minority founders' unique perspectives...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a game-changer for the startup ecosystem in many ways. Some businesses have risen, others have fallen, and some have risen AND fallen. The pandemic has affected everything from funding to industry trends to day-to-day operations. In this blog post, we’ll explore the obvious and less obvious ways COVID-19 affected the startup ecosystem. 1. Startup funding went down, and up, and down again Initially, the pandemic caused a slowdown in the global economy and investment activity. Venture capital firms and angel investors were more cautious, reducing the amount of money they invested in startups. After the initial shock, the startup ecosystem adopted the “Never let a good crisis go to waste” mindset. Countless tech companies seized the opportunity to cater to the new niches and demands of the ‘new normal’. This quickly snowballed into a full boom with tech valuations soaring and a VC gravy train going full speed ahead. More than $1 trillion in investor capital was handed out in two...

​ Dealum, the leading deal flow and collaboration platform for angel groups headquartered in Tartu, Estonia, and Keiretsu Forum, a global investment community of accredited private equity investors, venture capitalists, and corporate/institutional investors, announced their partnership aimed at enhancing the efficiency of deal flow and collaboration in the angel investing ecosystem. The partnership combines Dealum's expertise in providing tools for deal sharing and syndication, pipeline and funnel management, and investor communication with Keiretsu Forum's global network of investors and diverse investment opportunities. This collaboration will enable angel investors in Keiretsu Forum’s global network to access a larger pool of investment opportunities while streamlining the deal flow process. "Our extensive network of angel investors in 33 North American chapters, along with our 40+ angel group syndication partners, rely heavily on secure online sharing of investment and due diligence data," reports...

​ Building startups is not easy. From securing funding to attracting new customers, entrepreneurs face countless challenges on their road to success or failure. But as the saying goes, it's not just what you know — it's who you know. Networking is one of the secret sauces of the startup world. Read on to find out why building genuine relationships is the key to business success. What is a genuine relationship? Let's start with the basics: what is networking, and why is it so important? At its core, networking is about building relationships that can help you achieve your goals — connecting with other professionals, making new contacts, and fostering long-term connections. Networking tends to get a bad rep as being fake and transactional. But it's much more than schmoozing people up, shaking hands, and exchanging business cards. In the startup world — and the world in general — it’s building genuine relationships that really matters. And is also your key to success. What does it mean to build a genuine...

​ As we are celebrating Dealums’ 6th birthday, Rein Lemberpuu, the co-founder of Dealum, speaks about the Tartu startup ecosystem and why he believes it’s the best place for great ideas and successful startups (and, of course, for Dealum). Rein has been a key player in the Tartu startup scene helping it grow through startup hubs, investments, and founder programs. In this interview, he shares his insights on the evolution of the ecosystem, the strengths and weaknesses of the startups that have emerged, and his vision for the future of Tartu as a hub for startup innovation. Could you share with us how you first got involved in the Tartu startup community and what motivated you to take an active role in it? My journey in the Tartu startup community began after I exited Playtech with Rain Kivisik [editor’s note: the second co-founder of Dealum]. Together, we purchased the sTARTUp Hub building in the Tartu city center, initially looking for office space for our own team. However, since the space was too big for...