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Angel Capital
When it comes to financing innovation, the earlier the investment, the greater the risk. Pre-seed and seed stage opportunities involve largely unproven ideas or technologies, often with just a business plan or a brand-new start-up company to support them.
Because established funds and institutional investors often don’t have the risk tolerance for early-stage opportunities, nearly 40% of this funding nationally comes from angel investors – individuals, often veteran entrepreneurs with a talent for spotting potential blockbusters, who lend their money and expertise to fledgling ventures.
Ideally, the marketplace would funnel financing seamlessly to the best ideas. But in a traditionally underserved venture capital market like Indiana, organized efforts are needed to ‘prime the pump’ for early-stage investments.
TechPoint manages the HALO (Hoosier Angels Looking for Opportunities) Capital Corporation, a network of Indiana angel investors focused on funding and mentoring the most promising high-tech start-ups. Since late 2007, HALO has invested nearly $14 million in a dozen Hoosier firms.
Learn more about the HALO Capital Corporation.
Angels invested approximately $17.6 billion in more than 55,000 U.S.-based start-ups in 2009.
There are approximately 300 active angel networks in the U.S., each investing in an average of five companies per year.
– Angel Capital Association