As we focus on connecting startup ecosystems in Asia and Berlin, it is important to know how investors think and what they are looking for in startups. How can we encourage cross-border collaboration by building bridges between startup ecosystems?

This year, at AsiaBerlin Summit, we open doors to an exclusive investor conference on Day 3 with venture capitalists, family offices & angel investors from Asia and Germany. Register here for investors’ day and get your free offline and online tickets. 

We answer the legit question of why are Asian and European Investors betting big on Berlin? According to Berlin Partners, receiving 59 % of the venture capital invested in Germany, Berlin is clearly the most important region for tech investments. With a plus of roughly 36 %, the investment volume of venture capital in Berlin rose to 3.7 billion euros in 2019.

Berlin continues to be one of the top European locations for such investment and is just behind London in second place. In addition, Berlin is developing into Germany’s fintech hub: 34.8% of all fintech companies in Germany are based here; only 10.6% make their home in Frankfurt, generally considered the country’s financial center.

During the days of the Summit, we have the pleasure of hosting investors from  Vidici Ventures,  SAP.IO,  Futures Industry Ventures Fund, SBI Holdings, Sunbo Angels, Asics Investment, Bamboo Capital, Signals VC, and family offices such as Unifier Ventures. More details here. 

With Investors Day, we want to provide Asian investors, such as VC’s and business angels or Family Offices, insights into the German startup ecosystem which emerged as a top start-up hub in Europe. The Berlin start-up ecosystem has made a name for itself with unicorns such as N26 or Wefox. Our goal is to connect VCs and business angels from the Asia-Pacific region with the Berlin startup ecosystem. For this, we have created a versatile program with numerous panel talks, discussions rounds, and workshops to invite investors, corporates, and startups for our Investors Day on September 23. Here is a look at some panels on Investors day : 

Fireside Chat: Technology Leapfrogging Emerging Markets 

 

 

 

The role of technology in massively scaling the economic inclusion for the marginated 3.5 Billion of our world’s population. Get first-hand insights on the global transformation of the rural population’s landscape in emerging markets thanks to the convergence of impact investing and technology.

 

Panel: From Gender-Lens Investing to Gender Justice

 

 

 

 

Despite rapid economic growth in many parts of the world, women continue to lag behind their male counterparts in economic prosperity, are more likely to work in insecure, low-wage jobs in the informal economy, and have less access to finance, markets, and property than men. Women face more barriers to starting, running, or advancing professionally in a business, are paid less than men in equivalent positions, and experience more sexual harassment and violence, both in the workplace and at home. Gender discrimination also limits women’s participation; although women make up a third of all private business owners globally, women-owned businesses account for less than one percent of purchases from corporations and governments.  

In spite of these dismal statistics, there are encouraging trends. Recent research of the global gender-lens investment market shows that gender-lens assets under management quadrupled from $1.1b in 2017 to $4.8b from 2017 to 2019. Data shows that equal representation by women and men in business— and eliminating all forms of discrimination against female workers and managers— can increase profitability, productivity, and effectiveness, productivity per worker by 40%. And a 2019 analysis found that the top 25% of gender-diverse executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability and the most diverse companies are 36% more profitable than the least diverse teams.

How can barriers to gender equality be addressed in a way that businesses – particularly small and medium enterprises – can adopt and embed in their business models?

Panel: Investments in times of a global pandemic

 

 

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As the coronavirus spread and the pandemic reached every corner of the world, many startups had to ask themselves whether they could survive if business ground to a halt. As a result, many venture capital firms have also leaned towards a continued slowing down of activity. The exception are healthtech and medtech startups, which were the first to announce new funding rounds. How does one adapt one’s investment strategy during a pandemic and still support one’s own portfolio? This panel discusses the effect of this new normal on round size, target verticals and what it means to invest during a global pandemic.

( Please note that we are still updating this list and more speakers will be added until the Summit. Here is the current list of speakers and here is the Summit program. Follow us on Linkedin and Twitter for live updates on AsiaBerlin Summit 2020)