Billon’s CEO Wojtek Kostrzewa wins the title of the Business Angel of the Year

• Wojtek Kostrzewa, CEO of Billon Group, was granted the title of the Business Angel of the Year
• The award is a part of the Investment Diamonds competition, organized by COBIN Angels and Executive Club to distinguish investments which particularly benefited the Polish economy last year
• Wojtek as a business angel has supported various fintech and IT ventures: Billon, Quedex and AdEmotion.

(Warsaw / London, May 30 2019) Wojtek Kostrzewa, CEO of Billon Group Ltd. was recognized as the Business Angel of the Year in the Investment Diamonds competition, organized by COBIN Angels and Executive Club. The CEO of the Polish-British fintech was awarded for his consistent support for innovative fintech and IT ventures.  

Wojtek Kostrzewa has been involved in the growth of Billon since 2016. As a business angel he participated in all subsequent financing rounds. In 2017 he became a member of its Board of Directors and was appointed as its new CEO this January. Also in 2016, Mr. Kostrzewa invested in Quedex Ltd., a Polish-British bitcoin futures and options exchange. This March Quedex received an in-principle decision by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to be issued with a DLT license, making  the company one of the world’s first regulated cryptocurrency exchanges. Wojtek Kostrzewa is also a business angel at AdEmotions, a platform using AI and big data to collect and process demographic, geolocation, behavioral and socio-economic client information.

- I am grateful for recognizing the support for innovative ventures that can break through to operate on a global scale. Companies I have been involved with have the full capacity to disrupt their markets and strengthen the Polish economy. I am that I can participate in their development and international growth, supporting them both with capital and personal involvement - comments Wojtek Kostrzewa. 

The Business Angel of the Year award was presented at the Investment Diamonds gala, co-organized by COBIN Angels investors’ club and Executive Club business organization. The award honours business angels for their best investments made in 2018 in Poland. Its purpose is to award people who not only invest capital, but also actively support companies with their own knowledge, experience and contacts. The other nominees in this category were: Prof. Bolesław Rok (philosopher and CSR expert, Koźmiński University), Robert Dziubłowski (CEO of Top Consulting SA), Maciej 'Mac' Filipkowski (mentor and business angel with over 20 years of experience) and Jan Stasz (co-creator of Showroom.pl platform).

- The Polish start-up ecosystem needs more business angels. We are happy that people with such extensive professional achievements and business courage as Wojtek Kostrzewa take up this role - comments Robert Ługowski, Managing Partner at COBIN Angels, and the board member of the European Business Angel Network. - Wojtek's example shows how start-ups can leverage the support of experienced managers, and makes managers aware how they can build next stages of their career in the business angel formula.

Bio - Wojtek Kostrzewa

Wojtek Kostrzewa was the CEO of the media conglomerate ITI Group for the last 13 years. In the years 2005-2017 he served as a member and a long-term chairman of the Supervisory Board of the television broadcaster TVN. In the years 1990-2004 he worked as a successful CEO of Polski Bank Rozwoju and BRE Bank (today mBank) and managed the activities of Commerzbank in Central and Eastern Europe. 

Wojtek Kostrzewa is a graduate of the Economic Faculty at the University of Kiel (Germany) and also studied law at the University of Warsaw. He currently serves, among other positions, as the chairman of the Polish Business Roundtable, on the board of directors of the Swiss Stadler Rail and on the supervisory boards of the insurance companies of the ERGO Hestia Group. 

About Billon

Billon created the first enterprise DLT system, unifying national currency transactions, document management and identity management into a single architectural system. Our mission is to unleash the transformational capacities of DLT in the regulated world.

Billon went beyond the initial principles of blockchain by creating a new protocol for encrypting national currencies within existing regulations. We first solved the challenge of transacting micropayments at scale, and we can now encrypt documents and data 'on-chain' as well. Our high-performance DLT system is designed to deliver tangible business results in Account & Transactions, Trusted Documents, and Identity & Data Sharing.

Billon was founded in the UK in 2015, following several years of R&D in Poland. Its unique DLT protocol has been supported by many R&D grants, including the EU Horizon 2020 program. Billon is licensed to issue electronic money by regulators in the UK and Poland and employs a global team of more than 80 professionals across its offices in London and Warsaw. In November 2018, the company won the world's largest fintech festival in Singapore, organized by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, showcasing a solution to zero-cost blockchain micropayments.

For more information, visit www.billongroup.com

About COBIN Angels

COBIN Angels was set up in 2015 in Warsaw as a business angels network, engaging in the development of companies with a high growth potential, mostly in the tech sector. The network connects CEOs, founders and top managers of Polish and international companies. Its members provide partnership in M&A advisory, exits from investments and international expansion. COBIN Angels cooperates on a daily basis with VC and PE funds, other business angels networks, investment boutiques, family offices and independent investors.

For more information, visit www.cobinangels.com

About Executive Club 

Executive Club is a business organization bringing together members of top management representing the most important Polish and international companies. Since 2005 the Club has assembled well-established business leaders, whose actions set standards in the development of the Polish economy. The club inspires, helps identify the needs of management leaders, and supports the development of Polish business. The club is the first and largest organization of this type in Poland, working with the most important market entities in Poland and abroad.

For more information, visit www.executive-club.com.pl

Media contact:

Maciej Józefowicz

Head of PR & Communication

maciej.jozefowicz@billongroup.com 

tel. 0048 734 443 023