Policy Forum Blog on Angels' Confidence

Posted by: Thom Ruhe on April 12, 2012 Source: e360 Blog

Earlier this week, Mark Marich summarized angel investors’ confidence as reported by the 2011 Angel Market Analysis. Get the highlights in his Policy Forum blog post below.

While entrepreneurs continue to be optimistic about their prospects for the next 12 months, angel investors are now jumping in with both feet. Total investments? Up 12.1 percent. Number of entrepreneurial ventures funded? Up 7.3 percent. Number of active investors? Up 20 percent.

The figures come from the 2011 Angel Market Analysis released by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. The raw totals?

• Total investments in 2011 were $22.5 billion.
• A total of 66,230 entrepreneurial ventures received angel funding in 2011.
• The number of active investors in 2011 reached 318,480 individuals.

Angels increased their investments of seed and start-up capital, with 42 percent of 2011 angel investments in the seed and start-up stage, reversing a two year decline in seed and start-up investing and a significant increase from 2010 (31 percent in seed/start-up). Angels also exhibited a decreased interest in post-seed/start-up investing with 55 percent of investments in the early and expansion stage, down from 67 percent in 2010. New, first sequence, investments represented 52 percent of 2011 angel activity, also an increase of 11 percent from last year.

“This increase in seed/start-up stage and first sequence investing is promising and this renewed interest in seed and start-up financing is an encouraging development for our nation’s entrepreneurs,” according to Jeffrey Sohl, director of the UNH Center for Venture Research at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

Tags:  angel investing, 2011 Angel Market Analysis