Working to provide insight about angel investing, the Angel Capital Association (ACA) released the Angel Funders Report, an inaugural study of angel investor groups, the startups they support, and what leads a business to succeed. The report is in response to the lack of data on angel investing, despite angels providing 90 percent of equity capital to startups, which is approximately $25 billion into 70,000 companies per year.
With the goal of expanding the report in the future, ACA released data from 26 angel groups across the United States based on their 2017 investments. One key find is that angels invest outside their own state, reflected in 21 such investments from these groups, plus Canada and Israel. Another find is that 21 percent of the companies’ angels invested in had female CEOs in comparison to the 2-5 percent of female-led companies that venture capitals invest in.
Further areas that future reports will explore include: the minimum number of angel investors in a round to ensure a successful exit, or, what do startup CEO demographics mean for investment and company or investor success?
“This new ACA research initiative will increase what we know about angel investors, who they are, why and how they invest, what businesses they invest in, what kinds of returns performance they experience and what practices can improve outcomes,” elaborated Tony Shipley, vice chairman of the ACA board.
