The clarion calls across Europe for SMEs to come and save Europe’s challenged economies have grown louder and louder.

Starting up a business in any economic climate is tough, let alone the current situation. The risk of forfeiting a salary, and the long hours demanded from a start-up are one thing, but far and away the biggest hurdle is getting the requisite capital to fund the early stages of the business.

Outside the UK, the growth of business angels on the continent has been steady for the past couple of years. Figures from the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), show that by the end of 2012 more than €5bn had been invested cumulatively by angel networks. EBAN has identified 460 business angel networks(BANs) in Europe, comprised of 26,000 members.

Paulo Andrez, EBAN president, says the biggest growth has not been in the usual type of networks it would see – those with 60-80 members – but in groups of five to 10 people, pooling funds to invest in early-stage businesses.

"In terms of EU countries, I would say we are seeing this trend in most large cities – not a formal angel network but an angel syndicate," Andrez adds. Outside the UK and Scandinavia, perhaps unsurprisingly Spain, France and Germany are the three largest business angel markets. But after those, EBAN says additional growth is being found in Greece, Serbia, Austria and Turkey.

The average amount from a BAN investment sits at €1.1m. Finland has the highest average, at €7.1m. Switzerland, Lithuania, Austria and Belgium also sit comfortably above average. Spain currently has the biggest angel market on the continent; last year €62.5m was invested by angels. Strong support is given to BANs and in an effort to simulate angels, the government offers up to €30,000 towards administration and other costs associated with networks providing support to the entrepreneurs they back.

Ticketbis is a Spanish success story, Ander Michelena, CEO and co-founder of the company, says the north-east region bordering France is where most support is being shown to business angels. He cites a study which found that 32% of Spanish entrepreneurs are located there as evidence that the local ‘Euskadi’ government is firmly putting its weight behind start-ups.

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