Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VestdSMEProposal (Transforming the success of Startups across the EU)
Período documentado: 2017-01-01 hasta 2017-06-30
Vestd is a business that allows companies to easily distribute equity to those that help them build their business via an innovative platform.
Vestd was awarded a Horizon 2020 grant in December 2016 to carry out a market feasibility study for expansion into the EU.
There were 3 key phases:
1) Desktop research and target market analysis
2) In market visits to get first hand feedback on the relevant ecosystems as well as meeting relevant lawyers and tax advisers to assess the regulatory and company framework in each country
3) Data consolidation, and creation of a roll out plan (including business plan)
In the first phase we analysed multiple markets across the EU and decided to concentrate our efforts on Stockholm, Dublin, Berlin and Amsterdam.
We carried out market research on the entrepreneurial and early stage ecosystem in each market, and then carried out a targetted in market visit to each. This involved meeting with our legal and tax advisers to understand the regulatory, tax and corporate law challenges associated with rolling out our business model in each market, and then a number of meetings with key influencers and ecosystem leaders to appreciate the market need and demand for our services.
The outcome of the visits was that there was significant appetite for our services in each of the markets we visited, and in addition we identified that there was a technical and legal solution that we believe can be developed to deliver our model into these EU markets.
We have subsequently modelled the costs and benefits of launching in each market, and developed a prioritised implementation plan to roll out Vestd across these 4 markets and then beyond into other markets in the EU. Full details of this can be found in the Feasibility Study Report.