What Angel Investors Want Now The second annual Halo Report released today shows where angels are excited to invest, both by sector and geographically, and how much they are commonly investing.
By Catherine Clifford •
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What's hot with angel investors?
U.S. angel investment trends are shifting. The mobile sector is getting ever more attention and the health-care sector is losing dollars, according to the second annual Halo Report, released today from the advocacy organization Angel Resource Institute, entrepreneur-focused Silicon Valley Bank, and the National Science Foundation‐backed data research firm CB Insights. Data from 783 deals totaling $1.1 billion invested was collected both by survey and research of public data by the New York City-based CB Insights. Also, there is an increasing proliferation of angels in the Northwest and Southwest U.S., the report notes.
Related: 3 Things You Must Know Before Pitching Investors
Internet-based and health-care startups often claim the lion's share of the investment dollars from angels, but that's changing. The percentage of dollars that went to health-care startups shrank in 2012 and the percentage of dollars that went to mobile-based startups grew. Here's a look at the breakdown of sectors, by dollar volume, where angels invested in 2012:
- Internet: 31.9 percent
- Healthcare: 20.9 percent
- Mobile and telecom: 13.3 percent
- Industrial: 6 percent
- Electronics: 3.8 percent
- Consumer product and services: 5.3 percent
- Services: 4.5 percent
- All industries that don't fit into the aforementioned categories: 14.2 percent
Here are some questions you might have about raising money from an angel investor with answers from the Halo Report.
How much money can I expect to get from an angel? The most common investment size in 2012 was $600,000, down slightly from the median investment of $625,000 in 2011. If you were hoping for a larger investment, however, there is indication that investment sizes are growing. In the final three months of 2012, the most common investment was $690,000.
How big should my company be to seek angel investment? For the past two years, the value of the companies receiving angel investments has held steady at $2.5 million.
Do I need to be making money already to pitch an angel? You don't have to, but it helps: 63 percent of companies that received angel funding had revenue to point to.
Related: 5 Worst Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Pitching Angel Investors
What if I have never received investment before? Don't worry. Angel investors typically seek out early-stage startups that aren't big enough for the venture-capital firms. Last year, 56 percent of angel investment deals were with new companies that had never before received funding from an angel investor.
Am I going to be working with a single person? It's possible, but in recent years, the trend has been toward having more than one angel investor in a single fundraising. Almost 70 percent of angel investment deals were co-investments in 2012, up from 64 percent in 2011 and just 41 percent in 2010. When you have more than one angel backing your company, you get more money: the median investment size in a startup with multiple investors was $1.5 million. As co-investing becomes more common, however, the size of a co-investment has been falling, down from $1.63 million in 2011 and $1.92 million in 2010.
Where are these angels? The East and West coasts of the U.S. continue to be primary hubs for angel investing, but activity in the Northwest, and Southwest regions of the U.S. are seeing more activity. Ranked by number of deals completed, here is a look at the most active angel groups:
- New York Angels, New York
- Tech Coast Angels, Los Angeles
- Launchpad Venture Group, Boston
- Central Texas Angel Network, Austin
- Golden Seeds, New York
- Sand Hill Angels, Sunnyvale, Calif.
- Investor's Circle, Durham, N.C.
- Alliance of Angels, Seattle, Wash.
- CommonAngels, Boston
- Maine Angels, Bar Harbor, Maine
Have you raised money from an angel investor? If so, share your best tip with fellow entrepreneurs in a note below.
Related: JOBS Act Expected to Increase Diversity in Funding
