Dano Gaspar: “Be ambitious and think worldly.”
Crowdberry: Mobilizing capital for startups and small and medium-sized businesses
You make decisions every day about who gets the investment. What does it look like from Crowdberry's perspective?
Crowdberry is today one of the largest investment managers in Slovakia. Our mission is to mobilize capital — connecting demand with supply and supporting businesses that want to grow and build value, whether tangible or intangible, including intellectual property.
I started with startups in particular. We have gradually expanded our portfolio to include small and medium-sized enterprises as well as larger development projects. Basically, we replace what private equity funds and family offices do in Western Europe.
We operate an investment platform where investors can become co-owners of companies or finance them with loans as a bank. And at the same time we manage funds focused onventure capital and startups.
What an investor is really looking for: mindset and team quality
What are the main criteria when investing in technology startups?
It is often said, but it is true - quality management is the basis. Vision and ambition.
The peculiarity of Central and Eastern Europe is that some entrepreneurs start their business primarily for the sake of money. However, when growth slows down or they are satisfied with a certain level of income, or returns are not as expected, the motivation decreases.
In the US or Western Europe, the mindset is different, entrepreneurs want to change the world, leave a footprint, create global value. The investor is looking for exactly this approach, because it brings the desired returns for the risk taken.
The quality of the team and the psychological resilience of the founders are mainly important. Companies often outgrow the founders, but that's when it becomes clear whether they can scale or leave room for the better.
The apotom here is infrastructure: high-quality reporting, a clear ownership structure and — very importantly — settled intellectual property.
Intellectual property as a “deal breaker”
How do you look at IP in the due diligence process?
IP is absolutely essential. It also depends on the stage of the company. A startup should deal with the trademark, domain, core IP strategy from the very beginning. Building a brand is an investment that may need millions, as Mišo Pastier from Go BIGNAME rightly pointed out.
For technology companies, the question is whether to patent or protect the technology differently. Many founders do not solve this dilemma at all. In doing so, good legal advice can have the greatest added value in the end.
We were faced with a situation where, due to an unsettled IP, we did not even continue discussions about the investment. Many entrepreneurs do not realize that this is precisely where an investment can fail.
On the other hand, we also have positive examples, such as GymBeam or Glycanostics, which take care of their IP systematically.
IP is not just for tech companies
An interesting moment of discussion was also brought by the personal experience of Crowdberry.
Before joining our minority shareholder Slovenská sporitelna, we had to go through our own IP due diligence. People see us as an investment firm, but we are also fintech with a complex data and process infrastructure.
When you focus on growth, investment and portfolio management, you don't always have time to deal with who programmed what, what licenses are, whether they are exclusive or non-exclusive. And it is precisely the non-exclusive licenses that can be a problem.
We had to untangle the whole “ball” — map out suppliers, contracts, licensing relationships, value IP and move it under a new entity that was part of the transaction.
This is proof that intellectual property is not just a topic for tech startups. It applies to all sectors.
Patents vs. Hybrid IP Rights
According to Dan Gaspar, firms in the CEE region often focus too much on patents.
“Patents are not always the most important thing. Hybrid IP rights, such as the online customer base, utility models, trademarks or domains, can be of much greater importance.”
The investor looks at whether IP promotes a competitive advantage and whether it is part of the trading strategy.
When is the right time to deal with IP?
When asked when the firm should start actively addressing the protection of its innovations, the answer was clear:
As soon as possible. A start-up business is, in essence, an “invention” that needs to be protected.
Founders often do not initially think about where the company can grow. But it is precisely the unpreparedness in the early stages that can later cost a lot of money, or even jeopardize the investor's entry or reduce the value of the transaction's success.
Two tips for companies that want to invest
In conclusion, two clear recommendations were made:
- Responsibility— towards the company, clients and capital.
- AmbitionDon't be afraid to think globally and conquer the world.
“The world is simpler than you think. Be ambitious and don't be afraid to grow,” he told entrepreneurs.
Thus, the panel at Protect & Grow 2025 confirmed that the financing of startups and SMEs today depends not only on numbers, but also on the quality of management, strategy and systematic work with intellectual property — which is increasingly becoming a decisive factor in investment.