An affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) will focus on angel investors partnering with private equity funds at the World Congress of Angel Investors in 2020. The discussions will explore how private equity funds can foster open innovation and deliver more business value through partnerships with angel investors, start-ups, scale-ups, high-growth businesses and SMEs. The CEO-Preneurship Summit will focus on connecting angel investors with corporate ventures, while the FinTech Summit will deal with issues of financial inclusion and ways to democratise access to finance from start-up to scale-up to exit. LPs, start-ups, scale-ups and angel investors will be able to connect at the Take Investment Summit and on the Global Pitching Stage.

The Forum interacts with leaders in all areas of society, first and foremost in business and political spheres, to help assess needs and establish goals, bearing in mind that the public interest is of paramount importance.

The World Congress of the World Business Angels Investment Forum starts with the Grand Opening Ceremony, an invitation-only event for 500 special guests from around the world. The Grand Opening Ceremony includes keynote speeches from renowned businessmen, entrepreneurs and investors from around the world, presidential and ministerial speeches, video messages, the formal signing of economic cooperation agreements and an opening bell that signals the official opening of the Congress. A ministerial round table on critical issues and the state of the world will conclude the Grand Opening Ceremony.

An affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is aiming to ease access to finance globally. World Congress WBAF 2020 will feature 32 panel discussions at 7 summits. 

• Angel Investors Summit 2020
• Global Startups Summit 2020
• Global Woman Leaders Summit 2020
• Science, Technology & Innovation Summit 2020
• Fintech Summit 2020
• CEO Investors Summit 2020
• FDI Summit 2020

At WBAF 2020, we are allocating a special area where selected 100 startups, scaleups, and high-growth businesses will each have an area to showcase their business and to pitch their businesses on the Global Fundraising Stage (GFRS) on 18 February.The 2020 GFRS is supported by the WBAF Angel Investment Fund, whose mission is to invest in startups and scaleups who pitch on the GFRS. The aim is to showcase the world’s top startups and scaleups, which, typically, are funded companies in the process of raising €50K – €3M, with the ultimate goal of globalizing. GFRS participants will have a free Investment Readiness Workshop from the WBAF Business School. They will also have a free one-on-one mentoring session with a qualified mentor of the World Business Angels Investment Forum.

WBAF 2020 offers a unique occasion to selected investment promotion agencies and economic development boards to present opportunities in their countries for global investors on the Global Foreign Direct Investment Stage (FDI Stage) on18 February 2020. The FDI Stage is tasked with identifying emerging trends and furthering the Forum’s mission of easing access to finance for projects that have high potential for delivering a good return on investment.

It is the position of the WBAF Business School that when investors have had the advantage of training in the best practices of negotiating deals for early-stage investment, they are in a better position to ensure a good return on their investments. The WBAF Business School takes advantage of the Congress to deliver free workshops and masterclasses to support participants’ professional development.

 

Through the World Excellence Awards, the World Business Angels Investment Forum celebrates high growth and success in the equity and capital market – recognising the fastest growing brands and acknowledging the founders, angel investors, crowd-funders and early-stage venture capital investors behind them.

Open to both companies,investors, NGOs, policy makers and public institutes, these awards recognise the year’s most disruptive new market entrants and provide a definitive list of the most exciting individuals and organisations to watch in the investment, equity and capital space.

QBAC+ has quickly gained global popularity, making its way from London to Doha and now Istanbul. Soon after the Qualified Angel Investor Course (QBAC+) concluded at the London Stock Exchange Group, development agencies in Turkey decided to make the programme available to their staff. Then the Qatar Development Bank hosted it in Doha. And now the programme is scheduled to run in Istanbul immediately after WBAF 2020. It is open to anyone wishing to become an angel investor. Even experienced angels have found it extremely valuable. Consider taking advantage of being in Istanbul for WBAF 2020 to also attend the QBAC+ course.

WBAF is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, start-ups, and SMEs. The Forum interacts with leaders in all areas of society, first and foremost in business and political spheres, to help assess needs and establish goals, bearing in mind that the public interest is of paramount importance. WBAF engages a wide range of institutions, both public and private, local and international, commercial and academic to help shape the global agenda.

WBAF 2020 will host VIP lunch discussions for 150 selected investors from around the world on both Monday and Tuesday. Presidents, prime ministers, ministers and mayors who attend the VIP lunches will deliver short speeches. These lunches open the way for networking with high-level guests of the World Business Angels Investment Forum.