Gust and NordicBAN Announce Strategic Partnership for Pan-Nordic Early Stage Startups

TROMSO, NORWAY and NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Nov 17, 2015) - Gust, the world's largest global platform connecting high-growth entrepreneurs and active early-stage investors, and NordicBAN, the Nordic Business Angel Network that promotes cross-border investment activity in the region, announced today that Gust will be the official early stage investment platform for investor relations and deal-flow management of Nordic startups.

NordicBAN is a network of investor networks in the Nordics and Baltics, allowing investors from eight nations in the region to syndicate investments in growth companies incorporated in the region. Internationally-minded business angels aiming for cross-border investments in startups from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania may thus find the best investment cases coming out of the region. During a signing ceremony at Slush Investor Day eight investor networks coming from all mentioned countries save Iceland and Lithuania with the support of KPMG Finland formally established the foundation NordicBAN. Investor networks involved have more than 2,500 investors and yearly screen more than 4,000 possible growth companies. Startups must be incorporated in the Nordics or the Baltics. Investors may also come from outside of the region.

"Gust's platform will ensure NordicBAN business angel members are afforded a professional and seamless facilitation of early stage investments for the full life of a deal while also supporting cross-border and international investment opportunities," said Jan D. Oker-Blom, the newly elected chairman of the board of NordicBAN. "The entrepreneurial spirit of the Nordic nations has led to many technological innovations and through our partnership with Gust, the early stage investment community, will have streamlined tools to support the growth of the startup community."

Gust operates the official platform for the leading angel investor networks around the world. The global platform has been selected by national and international federations in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific region. Currently supporting collaboration among more than 300,000 startups and 80,000 investors in 190 countries, Gust will add NordicBAN to its global network as the official platform for early stage investment sourcing. Gust was previously named the official platform of NorBAN and FiBAN, the business angel networks of Norway and Finland.

"We are excited to partner with NordicBAN and bring the full suite of Nordic nations into our growing list of international partner business angel networks," said David S. Rose, CEO of Gust. "We look forward to working with NordicBAN to continue their effort in connecting and engaging cross-border investment opportunities that will lead to greater startup innovation, growth, and success in the region and beyond."

About Gust
Gust is the world's largest global network of investors and entrepreneurs. Gust has everything investors need to discover, diligence, share, and manage quality deals on a robust, secure platform. Used by the world's leading business angel and venture capital associations, Gust powers investment organizations in 190 countries. More than 300,000 start-ups have already used the platform to connect and collaborate with over 80,000 individual investors. For more information, please visit www.gust.com.

About NordicBAN
The first-movers needed in NordicBAN are experienced internationally-minded business angels in the Nordics that wish to learn from each other, expand their businesses to other Nordic countries and promote cross-border investments. The eight investor networks forming NordicBAN are:
From Denmark; Business Angels Copenhagen (BAC) and Capital2Grow
From Norway: Connect Norway / BAN Norway and Founders Fund
From Sweden: Stockholms Affärsänglar (Stoaf)
From Estonia: The Estonian Business Angels Network (EstBAN)
From Finland: Finnish Business Angels Network (FiBAN)
From Latvia: Latvian Business Angel Network (LatBAN)
Also KPMG in Finland participated as a founder in forming the The NordicBAN Foundation.

Click to read more about our enrollment process www.nordicban.org.