CNBC brought the concept of angel investors into the lives of millions of people across the world through its show “Shark Tank.”
Since 2009, founders of start-up companies have taken the stage,hoping presentations about their company’s success so far and potential for the future would convince a panel of “sharks” to invest in their company.
While the products and services these start-up companies createdwere all different in scope and lifecycle, the goal for the owners was quite simple — attract investment dollars from high-profile angel investors to vault the company to the next level.
The concept of angel investing has been around longer than “Shark Tank,” but the TV show certainly helped make it mainstream. With a rotating panel of sharks that has included Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary, it’s not hard to figure out why, either.
Today, angel investors are a major source of funding for start-ups across the country. According to the Angel Capital Association, 90% of outside equity that start-ups raise is supported by angel investors. In total, angel investors divvy out an estimated $25 billion to roughly 70,000 companies each year.
It’s no wonder, then, that you might be hoping to attract an angel investor for your own start-up. But is your company a good fit for an angel investor? And if it is, are you ready to make your pitch?
Here are four questions to ask yourself as you decide whether an angel investor could be a good fit for your start-up.
GVI and skygate Announce Strategic Partnership to Facilitate Global Technology Investment Network
Gold Venture Investments (GVI) and skygate announced today the formation of a strategicpartnership facilitating an international start-up investment network spanning across Israel,Poland and the EU, and the United States.
GVI, a global investment banking company based in Europe and Israel, scouts potentialinnovative solutions in the name of governments, municipalities, high-tech parks, globalaccelerators, and private investors. Based upon over 30 years of experience in the industry, GVIsignificantly improves the chances of startups to achieve fundraising and expand into globalcommercialization. This is done mainly via an intensive incubation/acceleration program andawide international network of key individuals.
skygate as a regional R&D center in the Silesia region in Poland has worked with some of theworld’s most interesting startups as technology and business partners.
skygate launched NYC-based incubator (skyincubator) operates a network of startups basedmostly in New York and London, and manages large quantities of deal-flow, mentors andinvestors from these two cities with a focus on early-stage technology solutions.
skyincubator’s program was formed for pre-seed technology companies in their path to raisingan angel round and thus provides high-quality educational content, connections, and guidance.For investors, skyincubator provides streams of high-quality deal-flow from a varietyofindustries.
Both GVI and skygate share a common vision of technology-enabled growth by a networkspanning from Asia, across Europe, and into the US. By partnering with each other, bothcompanies will enhance their offering to startups and investors, and the whole of thispartnership is now greater than the sum of its parts.
From the Perspective of an Angel Investor
Yoni, skygate’s Head of US Business Development, recently met up with Moshe Neuman, a NY-based Angel Investor and CEO. Moshe has over 20 companies in his portfolio, some worth hundreds of millions of Dollars.
When we asked Moshe what is most important to him when being introduced to a new potential investment, he said the following:
– A high quality deck is very important. For people that might go through tens of decks a day, quality is a basic way to stand out and keep the attention high.
– He wants to see that you can convey a clear message and point, rather than struggle to understand what the company is doing He wants to know who and what the team members are.
– He wants to see that team members are qualified individuals with experience in a particular field.
Moshe himself is a generalist, so he’s open to investing in all industries, but feels most at home with fintech and realtech companies.”
Yoni’s meeting with Yele Oyekola
Recently we’ve met with Yele Oyekola here in New York. Yele is the CEO of Julla – a loantech startup with its root in London, but targeting the African market. Yele managed to raise over $100k during his fundraising trip in the US and is one of our first graduates, congrats!
More to come soon!