Released on: October 25, 2007, 1:06 am

Press Release Author: Michal Kohoutek

Industry: Financial

Press Release Summary: On September 26, the Angel Investor Association (www.aia.cz)
organized the first match-making forum in the Czech Republic, bringing together both
private investors (often called "business angels") and high-growth entrepreneurs.
Four pre-selected entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to present their ventures
to an audience of around forty angels, investment fund representatives, business
incubator managers and fellow entrepreneurs. Guests included the 2004 Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year Mr Miroslav Rihák, Mr Nicolas Boissin of BKS Capital, and
business angels Mr Michael Prokop and Mrs Silke Horáková.

Press Release Body: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC The forum - held on Na Prikope street
with an amazing view on Prague's historical centre - was opened by AIA's president,
Mr Richard Husovský. AIA's event was held under the aegis of the European EASY
project, a two-year cross-border project which includes six major investment forums
in Europe's main capitals. The objective of these forums - as was pointed out by
AIA's Michal Kohoutek in his introductory note - is to enable entrepreneurs from
throughout the EU to present their projects to selected groups of investors.
Centring on the market of the Czech Republic, AIA's September 26 forum was another
milestone in the process of raising local awareness about angel investment, and this
forum followed on from the success of the 2006 European Business Angel Network
annual conference, organized by AIA in Prague in April of last year.

The AIA forum opened with a presentation by Mrs Modwenna Rees-Mogg, editor in chief
of VCR Directory (a database of British venture capital and private equity
investors), as well as of Angel News (a free commercial news service for early stage
funded companies), and was entitled "Keys to a Successful Business Angel
Investment". The presentation began with an overview of the various types of angel
investors, ranging from the angels looking for an intriguing job in an investee
company, to the "passive portfolio builders". The presentation then continued on to
the ten specific steps for optimizing investments so as to minimize risks - tips
included the formula to calculate the amount to invest based on your free assets, as
well as ideas on how to source a quality deal flow.

The following two speakers were Helena Kopalová of the Prague School of Economics,
and Michal Kostka, of the South Moravian Innovation Centre. Mrs Kopalová talked
about her experience at the 2007 July European Entrepreneurship Colloquium at
Harvard Business School, and Mr Kostka presented the services his incubator offers
to entrepreneurs. His presentation bore the title "How to Breed a Beginning Ernst &
Young Entrepreneur of the Year", as Václav Muchna of Y Soft, the 2006 winner of the
award, comes from the South Moravian Innovation Centre incubator.

At 5 pm the core of the program came - the four entrepreneurs, one after another,
presented their entrepreneurial projects to the attending investors.

First was Mr Daniel Zuth of ViDiTech, a Brno-based company producing
vibrodiagnostical devices, which monitor - as the name reveals - the vibrations of
costly machinery in order to prevent damage to it. After the presentation, a lively
debate ensued with AIA investor Anthony Smith, who showed his interest in the
proposal and enquired about the possibility of applying the ViDiTech system to wind
turbines, given the advantageous ratio between their respective prices.

Second to present was Mr Václav Brezina of BP Medical, also from Brno, a company
growing algae in a closed system - the only one in Europe - and able to tailor their
nutritional content to the customer's needs. The purpose of the algae cultivation is
to obtain biomass from which to extract ingredients for nutritional supplements as
well as for cosmetics. The liveliest business angel in the ensuing discussion this
time was Silke Horáková, whose main interest focused on the company's marketing
strategy.

Third came SoggyMelon, a project of two American-born entrepreneurs living in Czech
Republic's Moravia region, Gary Keith and Glenn Weidner. In its first stage, the
project is initially centred on the localization of online video games in the region
of Central and Eastern Europe, while at a second stage the development of own games
is planned. Investor Michael Redgwell expressed the greatest interest in this
project.

Finally, Indian-born Manna Justin of Foretee presented his project, which consists
of a tee time booking website, where players can see weather forecasts for different
golf courses, and where golf courses can subsequently post real time discounts in
case of bad weather. Mr Justin is currently operational and has built up a team of
employees in the Czech Republic, India and the United States. Whilst his target
market is currently only the United States, given the number of golf courses in
Europe, future plans are expected to extend to include the European courses as well.


The first match-making forum in the Czech Republic was most certainly deemed a
success, achieving its goal of bringing together entrepreneurs and angels together
into an engaging environment. No doubt we all look forward to seeing the outcome of
their negotiations in the weeks to come, and also to the second forum expected in
the near future.

Web Site: http://www.aia.cz/

Contact Details: Michal Kohoutek
Angel Investor Association (AIA)
Na Příkopě 15, Prague 110 00, Czech Republic
[t] +420 272 143 524
[f] +420 272 143 516
[e] michal.kohoutek@aia.cz