BRUSSELS, March 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The 3rd European Space Agency (ESA) Investment Forum will take place near Brussels (Dolce La Hulpe) on the 7th of April 2009. It brings together international investors specialised in seed and early stage funding, looking for hot new ideas, with innovative fledgling high-tech companies, who are seeking funds to get their business up and running.

Organised jointly by ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office (TTPO) in collaboration with Europe Unlimited, the EC project KIS4Sat and the European Business Innovation Centre Network (EBN), the ESA Investment Forum is a vehicle to propel new and exciting technology ventures, which use space technology for different applications, fostering not only innovation but ultimately also European industry.

A Selection of Start-Ups will present to Venture Capitalists

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-up companies that base a significant part of their growth and competitive advantage on the use of technologies originating from space (e.g. satellite navigation) in non-space applications can apply to present their venture in front of international investors.

We will select the most promising start-ups out of all the applicants, who will then get the opportunity to present their business to the venture capitalist community, explains Frank M. Salzgeber, Head of ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office. 200 participants are expected, amongst them entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate representatives and advisors. Up to 30 European high tech start-up companies will be selected to present their innovative businesses, typically seeking series B-D financing. One-to-one meetings between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists can be pre-arranged in order to get a deeper insight into the respective companies' business.

Application deadline for Investors is 27 March 2009

For more details on the ESA Investment Forum, please log onto: http://www.e-unlimited.com/events/p200304/overview.asp

Website: http://www.esa.int/ttp

Are you a venture capitalist interested in participating? Contact Europe Unlimited for registration purposes: Myrna Rodriguez, Europe Unlimited, phone: +32-2-643-36-87, email: myrna@e-unlimited.com. Application deadline for Investors is 27 March 2009. For more details on the ESA Investment Forum, please log onto: http://www.e-unlimited.com/events/p200304/overview.asp . For further information, please contact: ESA's Technology Transfer Programme Office, Frank M. Salzgeber, European Space Agency ESA - ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG, Noordwijk ZH, The Netherlands, Phone: +31(0)71-565-6208, Fax: +31(0)71-565-6635, Email: ttp @ esa.int.