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5 INTERVIEW 10.2.2022 How does your experience at GO help you in your leadership at GO Ventures? I joined GO in 2000 as part of its Fi- nance Team and since then I have been gaining further experience working in both the commercial, as well as the stra- tegic arms of the company. With GO Ventures, I have been involved since its inception and am happy to have had a significant role in shaping its devel- opment. Today, I serve as a mentor to several start-up founders. I am aware of corporates' expectations, and I can focus on helping these start-ups estab- lish a strategic framework and achieve growth. How is GO Ventures coming along? GO Ventures is going very well. Since we launched this initiative in April 2019, we have progressed significantly, and we are receiving increased interest generated both in Malta and on an in- ternational level. Of course, as with any investment, it is a bit early to be expect- ing tangible exits from our investments, but we are seeing rapid growth in a good number of our start-ups, and this augurs very well. We are very confident in what we have achieved so far. How many companies have you invested in and what is the total investment made by GO in such companies to date? Over the past eighteen months we have invested more than €1 million in five start-ups with more than half of that going into Malta-based start-ups which is, I believe, quite a statement of trust in local entrepreneurs. ere is a healthy mix in the start-ups we choose to invest although there seems to be a common thread that these start-ups are all using digital means to innovate and disrupt existing markets – which is why we are investing in them in the first place. Do the start-ups you choose to invest in operate in the telecoms sector? A few of these do have links to the tel- ecoms industry yes but we never put this as a pre-requisite. e good exam- ple is Mindbeat, which is a management coaching platform, with which we have a strong relationship on an operation- al level, apart from the investment we made. With companies like Mindbeat, GO is also a great strategic investor be- cause we were not only among its first customers, but we also helped intro- duce them to our partners and facilitat- ed collaboration between them. Investment does not only mean funding but also contributing resources. Yes, in fact, we do a lot of work behind the scenes such as mentoring and facil- itation of networking. We have men- tored and provided advice to start-ups and young entrepreneurs even though their start-up was not necessarily the right fit for our portfolio. We have also introduced companies interested in moving to Malta to the appropriate governmental bodies. Ultimately, we strongly believe that for Malta to tru- ly be attractive to start-ups there must be a strong start-up eco-system and we are trying to play as strong a part in de- veloping that as much as possible. We are very proud in being – as far as I am aware – the only corporate in Malta with a programme that is actively in- vesting in start-ups. What do investors look for in start-ups? Every investor has their own criteria that guides their decisions. At GO Ven- tures we look for tech-related start-ups with a product already on the market. Others look at specific segments such as start-ups related to the AI space or with environmental solutions. Howev- er, there are common aspects every in- vestor looks at regardless of the type of idea or business the start-up is in. ey look at who the founders are and what their vision is, they look at their leader- ship style, how passionate they are and what they are willing to risk for their idea to succeed. ey also look at the actual idea, the solidity of the business plan, the size and type of market they plan to operate in and the founders' exit strategy Apparently, there is new investment happening in the near future. Can you give us some more details about this? Currently we are close to finalising three investments although, for obvious reasons, we cannot really divulge any in- formation before the deals go through. What I can say is that these investments will total in excess of €600,000 with a significant chunk of that going to help a Malta-based start-up speed up its in- ternationalisation process. Naturally, we are very excited about all these in- vestments mostly because the success of this initiative will continue to reflect our purpose of driving a digital Malta where no one is left behind. Less than 10% of start-ups survive beyond five years, but GO Ventures is offering financing and expertise and services to budding entrepreneurs to be able to do just that. To date, the company has invested more than €1 million in five start-ups with more than half of that going into Malta-based start-ups. BusinessToday spoke to PAUL GRECH, who leads GO's Strategic Planning and Insights Team and heads GO Ventures' investment process GO Ventures invests over €1m in start-up companies

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