UK’s Top Angel Investment Networks

UK’s Top Angel Investment Networks

An angel investor is a wealthy individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. A small but increasing number of angel investors organize themselves into angel groups or angel networks to share research and pool their investment capital. Investment networks are organized groups of investors and entrepreneurs who are mutually interested in launching a new venture or restructuring an existing business operation with an eye of generating a significant profit. This forum allows people with money to connect with people who have ideas and expertise. Top angel investment networks may be open to a number of different types of ventures or can focus on a particular kind of business venture.

While a top angel investment network may take on several forms, the core purpose however remains the same. Investors look for entrepreneurs who have feasible ideas for launching a new business or a venture that is likely to make a great deal of money within a given time frame. At the same time, entrepreneurs look for investors to underwrite the costs of starting up the venture and continuing to support the operation until the project begins to generate enough profit to function on its own. Investors usually make some type of return on the investment, either in the form of cash or acquiring stock issues before the new company begins to trade on a stock market. Entrepreneurs are freed from financial concerns since funding is now secure and can focus on refining the project and guiding it to success.

A top angel investment network may focus on infusing a struggling company with needed cash to get on its feet, find a customer base and become profitable.

There are some top angel investment networks in the U.K; you can get in touch with to help finance your business idea. A study in 2009 estimated that there were between 4,000 and 6,000 angel investors and networks in the U.K with an average investment size of £42,000 per investment. Furthermore, each angel investor on average acquired 8% of the venture in the deal with 10% of investments accounting for more than 20% of the venture. Talking about returns, 35% of investments produced returns of between one and five times of the initial investment, whilst 9% produced returns of multiples of ten times or more.

Top angel investor networks in the U.K vary considerably. They are generally a group of accredited investors who get together to review companies for potential investment. The investments can be made by the private equity investors belonging to the network or by the network itself as a limited partnership. Some top angel investor networks in the U.K charge a fee to the entrepreneur for the business plan to be reviewed or for an in-person presentation to be made to the ‘angels’ group and other known and top angel investor networks in the U.K do not.

Some of the top names in the angel investment networks in the U.K today are:

Angels Den  

Angels Den is one of the top angel investment networks in the U.K that help entrepreneurs and SME owners get the investment they need, to take their businesses into growing success and to new heights. They introduce businesses to business angels who have the cash ready to invest. This widely known and one of the top angel investment networks in the U.K claims to have a low upfront fee, which means that their success is based on the success of businesses getting funded by business Angels, both in the U.K and around the world.

Go Big Network

Again of the top angel investment networks in the U.K, the Go Big Network is an on-line marketplace that connects the start-up and small business communities. This organization allows start-ups, funding sources, advisors and service providers to post online requests for help and have those requests routed to other members of the network who can help them. Being one of the top angel investment networks in the U.K, the Go Big Network allows members of the start-up community to connect easily and faster by displaying all of the demands of the start-up community in one place.

Angel News

They are the leading European news service in the investment sector, especially for business angels, investors and the companies they back. They report news on their website. As well as reporting news on fast growing businesses, they help companies looking for funding to advertise their investment opportunities to their top network of investors, angels and venture capitalists.

Angel Investment Network

This is a top web-based matching network service for angel investors seeking investment opportunities and entrepreneurs seeking capital, owned by Angel Investment Network Ltd, a London-based investment company. After the success of their U.K website, they began expanding and today they have 30 networks worldwide covering over 80 countries.

A top angel investment network in the U.K may also target the development of new businesses by backing an entrepreneur and ensuring that the new business venture has the financial resources to launch the business and stay afloat long enough to cultivate a customer base. In all instances, the ultimate goal here is to generate profits for everyone involved and possibly create a revenue source that will benefit investors and business owners for many years to come.