European Business Angels Network and Cornerstone Communications Launch “CEE-Released” During EBAN’s EurInvest Roadshow at the European Parliament in Brussels

European Business Angels Network (EBAN), the European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds and Early Stage Market Players and Cornerstone Communications, a CEE  Investors’ Relations Agency, announce the first edition of “CEE-Released”, a unique program for managerial formation, quality standards in investors relations and access to capital, dedicated to early-stage and growth companies, with roots in Central and Eastern Europe.

The goal of the annually organized CEE-Released project is to carry out a search for and to expose as well as train the best CEE-based companies that may be classified as early-stage business and growth companies, representing various sectors of the economy and operating on local or international markets.

CEE-Released will enhance and increase the chances and opportunities for the companies participating in the program to grow their businesses, to implement winning strategies and to open or broaden the access to financing. CEE-Released will focus on enabling the companies to have access to financing through equities (provided by public markets’ investors, private equity and venture capital funds, business angels and HNWI), as well as financing through debt instruments, especially provided by private debt funds and individual investors.

In the first stage, qualifications for the program will be launched in selected CEE countries where EBAN is active, which includes: Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldovia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. As a result of this phase, companies meeting the criteria of the program, after having been selected by CEE -Released international board composed of international managers, market practitioners and analysts, will be awarded invitations to participate in the second phase of the program. The award ceremony and the closing of phase I of the project will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria on June 25-27 during the EBAN Annual Congress.

In the second phase, the participating companies will be invited to join a set of local-based activities, aiming to develop their business, in accordance with the objectives of the program. The second phase will end in December 2018.

European Business Angels Network and Cornerstone Communications are the organizers, promoters, and coordinators of CEE-Released. The organization of the program is supported by local business angels’ networks, associated with EBAN, in countries of operations of CEE-Released.

CEE-Released is a pan-regional project, carried out in cooperation with stock exchanges, institutional investors of the public and private markets, and providers of professional services servicing the business.

“As a leading Europe’s network of early-stage investors, we see in the CEE-Released concept, which is to be developed in one of the most dynamically growing business areas of the world, a great contribution to building on economic ecosystems. This is a visionary project, that will bring advantages in the field of business development, based on values such as corporate governance, financial transparency and access to capital” – said Candace Johnson, President of EBAN, seasoned investor and entrepreneur, at the official presentation of CEE-Released at the European Parliament in Brussels, on the 22nd of February.

“CEE-Released will offer to CEE businesses a better recognition and exposure to international, diversified flows of capital, through extensive program covering what investors and markets nowadays pay attention to, that is compliance, standards, transparency and relationship management” – said Zuzanna Kurek, Co-Founder and Partner at Cornerstone Communications.

Details and updates on the first edition of CEE-Released will be available on Cornerstone and EBAN CEE websites: www.cornerstone-comm.eu, www.ebancee.org and on Cornerstone Communications Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. For more information about the project, please contact Cornerstone Communications at: ir@cornerstone-comm.eu.