The Angel Resource Institute (ARI), Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and CB Insights released the Halo Report for the first quarter (Q1) of 2014. The national survey of angel group investment activity reported encouraging results as both investments and valuations climbed in Q1— median round sizes increased to $980K per deal up from 2013 averages, and pre-money valuations rose to $2.7 million from $2.5 million in Q4 of 2013. The climb was driven mostly by investments in Internet-related companies that jumped significantly.

Seed stage valuations have risen steadily over the last five years to an all-time high of 3.95 million (Median), a 30% increase over 2014, according to the recently released 2015 Q2 ARI HALO Report from the Angel Resource Institute at Willamette University (ARI). The authors found that all U.S.

The last decade has seen a rapid expansion and deepening of the types of vehicles that fund startup firms in the U.S. and worldwide, according to The Globalisation of Angel Investments – a new study from Josh Lerner, Antoinette Schoar, Stanislav Sokolinksy, and Karen Wilson. In particular, the authors have seen a growing role for angel groups and other more “individualistic” funding options, such as super angels or crowd sourcing platforms.

Angel investors are an essential component of the global economy, supporting ideas and innovators at their very earliest stages. In 2014, more than 200,000 American angels invested about $24 billion in 73,000 startups, according to the Angel Capital Association (ACA). Little data, however, exists on who these investors are and how they make their decisions. ACA, Wharton Entrepreneurship and the John Huston Fund for Angel Professionalism at Rev1 Ventures are launching a nationwide survey of angel investors to learn more.

Angel group valuations and deals continued to rise through the third quarter of 2015, according to the most recent HALO Report, a publication of the Angel Resource Institute at Willamette University in Oregon. While median angel-only round sizes were $500,000 in both the first and second quarters of 2015, the third quarter saw this amount increase 45 percent to $725,000.

On November 20, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) held its annual Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation. During the daylong event, panelists focused on two important issues – secondary market liquidity for securities of small businesses and the potential revision of accredited investor definition.

Over two years, President Obama signed the JOBS Act, a bill authorizing a variety of significant changes to securities laws. Among those changes, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was mandated with implementing rules for equity crowdfunding within 270 days – approximately January 2013. However, the rules still remain in draft form.

In 2014, Angel groups in the Great Lakes region invested more dollars than anywhere else in the country, 17.2 percent of the U.S. total, including angel groups in California (17 percent). This marks the first time a U.S.

The angel investor market in 2015 had a slight increase in investment dollars and in the deal size according to a new report from the Center for Venture Research (CVR) at the University of New Hampshire.

While academics and policymakers have rushed to embrace venture capital (VC) investors, they have had a tendency to neglect other entrepreneurial financiers (specifically angel investors) who critically affect the success and growth of new ventures, according to a new study from Josh Lerner of the Harvard Business School and Antoinette Schoar of the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Venture development organizations are reaching into new territory for funding partners and finding success in innovative models. Two new funds, the San Diego Tech & Life Science Investor Syndicate and Rev1 Fund I in Columbus, OH, have recently opened with less traditional funding sources, testing the waters of crowdfunding and heavy corporate backing, respectively. The San Diego fund, launched by CONNECT, allows anyone wanting to invest $1,000 the opportunity to participate alongside more experienced lead investors.

The latest Angel Resource Institute (ARI) survey of returns for nearly 250 angel investments reveals the number of projects failing to breakeven during their liquidity events is up sharply since before the Great Recession – nearly 35 percent more are losing money for their angels than ARI found in a 2007 survey.  In 2007, 52 percent of liquidity events failed to reach 1x, while that figure has grown to 70 percent in 2016. Add to that, angel investors are holding companies in their portfolios 12 months longer on average, 4.5 years in 2016, than they did in the first study.

A mixture of success and trepidation accompanied 2016 legislation introduced in  several states to create, extend, or recapitalize angel tax credit programs. While legislation in Arizona’s legislature failed due to a lack of support, angel tax credit bills in Kansas and Tennessee passed easily with broad support from their governors, lawmakers, and the public. In North Dakota, the state’s angel tax credit program faces an unclear future due to concerns about transparency and oversight. To stimulate investments in West Virginia’s startup community, Gov.

On August 10, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed an extensive economic development bill (HB 4569) into law.

Many promising technologies created by Oregon startups wither on the vine due to a shortage of high-risk angel capital and many other startups leave the state in search of funding, according to a new report from the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) – Oregon Angel Investment: The Economic Impact of High-Risk Investment in Oregon's Entrepreneurial Enterprises.