While there is strong interest in developing venture capital and early stage finance in Malta, a number of challenges and issues need to be dealt with to develop the market. This emerged from an educational clinic hosted by FinanceMalta at the Stock Exchange in Valletta.
With total fundraising in Europe for venture capital and early stage finance reaching €44.6 billion in 2014, the event sought to see how local financial service practitioners can participate and capture market share given the current framework and modus operandi.
Adrian Galea of Go Beyond Investing, who led the clinic, said: “While some issues can be overcome through dialogue via the correct channels, others will require an ongoing, concerted and coordinated effort from industry players, practitioners, regulators and government bodies.
Andy Linnas, manager of business incubator Takeoff, spoke about his experiences with seed funding for start-ups they deal with in the technology and knowledge-based sectors. Other speakers were Karl Mercieca, senior manager in EY’s Asset Management Advisory Services and Karl Grech from PEI Ltd, who introduced the audience to Malta’s first crowd-funding platform Zaar, that will be launched before the end of the year.