Session: BALKONNECT PITCHING EVENT

Grant Van Cleve is a global entrepreneur, angel investor, and business accelerator. He splits his time between bases in Tirana, Albania and Orange Country, CA, USA (where he is regularly listed among the 50 most influential people). Grant is involved in 115 start-ups, serving as a board member or advisor in 18 of those. He is a core leader in the Tech Coast Angels – America’s most active angel investing group – Managing Partner of Hangar 75 Ventures, an Expert-in-Residence at University of California, Irvine, and is a member of Entrelliance and Faith Driven Investors. In Albania Grant has led real estate developments, built cross-organizational partnerships, and consulted for and lobbied government entities in the 2000s. Then since 2021 has begun angel investing into fintech and edtech startups, training future technologists, and gathering other stakeholders to join the adventure of getting innovative, scalable companies off the ground. Paramount among those are the technology training entities Holberton School and Digital School, both of which he was instrumental in launching locally. As a proven ecosystem builder, and bridge between business and government actors. The current version of that is serving as President of the American Chamber of Commerce – Albania. Grant is traveling often to the Balkans and Middle East to help empower the set of stakeholders needed to see innovation thrive.

Company Profile

TCA Venture Group (formerly Tech Coast Angels) has nearly 500 members who provide funding and guidance to early-stage, high-growth companies in Southern California and beyond. Once a TCA member chooses to invest, they give companies more than just capital; they also provide counsel, mentoring and access to an extensive network of potential investors, customers, strategic partners and management talent. Nearly $300 million has gone into more than 450 companies across diverse industries (not just ‘tech’). These companies then proceeded to attract nearly $2.1 billion in additional investment capital. Between its large size, history of successful exits, high portfolio IRR over 20 years, and thought leadership in the angel space, TCA is considered the premiere angel group in the US. TCA’s leadership role includes serving on the board of the Angel Capital Association (‘ACA’ https://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/), influencing it’s 13,000+ angels in 260+ angel groups.

Grant is also a member of Keiretsu Forum SouthEast Europe. https://keiretsuforumsee.com/ Keiretsu Forum is a global investment community of accredited private equity angel investors, venture capitalists and corporate/institutional investors. Keiretsu Forum was founded in the San Francisco East Bay in California in 2000 by Randy Williams. Keiretsu Forum is a worldwide network of capital, resources and deal flow with 53 chapters on 4 continents. The relatively new SEE chapter represents nine countries in and around the Balkans. It is growing quickly in its number of members and deals funded.