Startup investing community platform Roundtable has raised a  EUR 3 million first round of funding to enable communities to invest in startups. Roundtable has used its own platform to bring hundreds of business angel investors from across Europe to their company, including German and Austrian business angels Christopher Zemina (founder of Airbank/Friday Finance), Patrick Andrae (founder of Hometogo), David Savasci ( Founder of Delinski and Zuper), Felix Wolf (Venture Partner at Entrepreneur First) and Michael Ströck (Founder of Loop Ventures, Gustav and Kochabo).

According to a Roundtable press release, the company has closed more than 100 deals on its platform representing EUR 50 million in assets under administration (AUA) and it now plans to use the capital to expand its product offering and presence in Europe. Roundtable’s community investment solution Investments in private markets, particularly in start-ups, have been limited due to the need for personal networks to access investment opportunities, expertise to evaluate them, and sufficient capital to invest. Community investing offers a solution to this problem by allowing individuals to pool their networks, expertise, and capital.

Roundtable was founded with the aim of enabling community investment in startups.   How community investing works  The company has developed a platform that allows individuals to create their own communities, invite members, share investment opportunities, and pool their capital to invest in startups. By simplifying the process of bringing together networks, expertise, and capital, communities on Roundtable can access a greater number of investment opportunities and meet minimum investment requirements.

Roundtable has also removed the legal and administrative hurdles typically associated with community investments. According to a Roundtable representative, community investing will bring startup investing into the mainstream and allows investors to evaluate and fund startups more efficiently and selectively. The financing round Roundtable has used its own platform to consolidate the investments of a total of 100 business angels from across Europe.

Roundtable's business angels also act as community investing ambassadors in their home countries, having already established their own investment communities on the platform. By securing the first round of funding solely from angel investors, Roundtable has departed from the traditional method of raising capital, which typically involves funding from institutional investors and possibly some angel investors. According to Christopher Zemina, a co-founder of Airbank and Roundtable angel investor, Roundtable enabled them to build a community of German and Austrian business angels with just a few clicks.

  What the financing will go towards Roundtable will use the funds to expand its reach across Europe. In addition, the financing will be used to improve the product range. The community platform has noticed that the next trend in community investing is business angels running their own funds.

Therefore, Roundtable is currently building a tool that will support Solo GP, which will aid mature angels looking to professionalise their practice and launch their first, small fund. .