Along their journeys, startup founders seek out VC financing opportunities to fuel their dreams and help their teams reach that all-important profitability milestone. For earlier-stage startups who are looking for seed capital—typically in the $1-5 million range—angel investments can be a suitable option to explore.
In this article, we look at what an angel investment is, what angel investors might consider when looking for new opportunities to invest, how an angel investor might leverage PitchBook to find new angel investment opportunities, and top angel investment deals over the last five years.
What is an angel investment?
An angel investment is an equity investment by an individual accredited investor that is not operating a fund with outside LPs, says PitchBook’s Kyle Stanford, Lead Research Analyst VC.
While angel investors can be active across funding rounds—from early- to later-stages—they are most prominent at the seed stage. Seed capital is a type of financing where an investor provides capital in exchange for equity. Typically, seed-stage investments are between $1 million and $5 million, and they’re often used to build and test a startup’s product, help in defining goals, and getting a product or offering to market.
Angels investing in seed rounds need an in-depth understanding of the market a target company is in, deep knowledge of the challenges that may arise in product development and launch, and a strong network of other investors who can help with future equity raises.
What should angels consider when looking for investment opportunities?
As an angel investor embarks on a due diligence process to identify fitting investment opportunities, Stanford says they may want to ask themselves these questions:
- Do I understand that there’s a high likelihood that I will lose all of my money on this investment?
- What is the competitive advantage I will bring to this company as an investor?
- Does the potential return outweigh the inability to realize that return for 5-10 years?
- What do I need to see from the founder or founding team to evaluate the company, since financial metrics may be low?
How to leverage PitchBook to find angel investment opportunities
Finding an angel investor in the PitchBook Platform is straightforward; however, the search for angel investment opportunities is less so. Because companies aren’t tagged by their intent to find an investor, the search outlined below offers a way to back into the most relevant data—and is provided as a starting point for a client’s due diligence process.
1. On your PitchBook dashboard, select Companies & Deals from the Screeners menu along the left side of your browser.
2. Then, select the Deal Criteria tab, and check the box to only search for the most recent transaction.
Note: By checking this box, the deals returned in your search won’t include any random, older deals. After all, the goal is to see the deal that they would be exiting from—their last deal.
3. Next, bubble in Custom Dates under the Deal Dates section, and enter
From: [insert a date 1-3 years earlier than the date when you’re entering your search criteria]
Note: Early-stage startups may have already received an incubator investment, but they’re not likely to hold on to that capital for more than three years. By using these parameters, your search results will yield companies most likely be looking for their next investment in the coming year or two.
4. After that, click on Deal Types and select whatever early-stage deals are most relevant to your preferences. In our example, we’re selecting Pre/Accelerator/Incubator, but perhaps your search will include Angel and/or Seed, too.
5. Now you’re off to the races—add any additional filters that are appropriate for your search. In particular, it can be especially useful to add Industry and Location filters. Make sure to select Search HQ Only in the Location Type section of the Location tab.
6. At this point, you should see that your overall number of results has decreased as you’ve added more parameters into your search. Hit the blue Search button in the top right side of your screen to get your results.
7. Once within the results of your search, you should see all of your chosen Deal Criteria filters listed out at the top of your screen. Make sure you’re on the Companies tab. Move, sort, add, or remove any of the default columns that populate. If helpful, use the Download option on the right side of your screen to export your results as a spreadsheet.
Note: When you open up individual company profiles that are linked to in your search results, some useful context to glean might include their deal history, business status (whether it is generating revenue, operating in stealth, etc.), recent news mention, and the similar companies and comparisons charts.
PitchBook’s angel investing data
PitchBook tracks 4.2M+ private companies—everything from their cap tables to financials and financing histories. Within that broad umbrella, we track 42.4K+ startups and stealth startups—companies that may be seeking an angel investor. Additionally, you can quickly see the details on 49.2K+ companies who have received capital from angel investments over time.
Here’s a closer look at some of the angel investing data and insights that are available in our platform.
Quick stats
49,416
Companies
61,601
Deals
27,105
Investors
31
Exits
$6.85B
Largest deal
$55.37B
Capital invested
$2.25M
Median post-valuation
*According to PitchBook as of June 13, 2024; data is subject to change frequently
Top 10 global individual angel deals by size (2019-present)
These 10 companies received the largest angel investments between 2019 and present, as of May 23, 2024. PitchBook Platform data is dynamic and subject to change often, with new deal data added daily. Note that the information below represents a snapshot in time and will become outdated as new deal data becomes available.
1. Navi
🗓️ Deal date: April 3, 2020
💰 Deal amount: $397.9M
😇 Angel investors: Anand Rao, Paresh Suthankar, Samit Shetty, and others
Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, Navi is a digital lending platform that aims to make financial services simple, affordable, and accessible to everyone. The company has completed 10 deals altogether, including two angel rounds, and raised a total of $542.8 million since the company’s founding in 2018.
2. Wayfarer Studios
🗓️ Deal date: June 15, 2022
💰 Deal amount: $125M
😇 Angel investors: Jessica Sarowitz
Los Angeles-based Wayfarer Studios specializes in producing content for the media industry and offers film and television production services to corporations, nonprofits, ad agencies, schools, startups, and more. Founded in 2013, the company intends to offer storytelling for social good. After being acquired by 45 Bay for $10 million in 2019, the studio received an angel investment from Jessica Sarowitz to boost its strategic growth.
3. SimSim
🗓️ Deal date: April 26, 2019
💰 Deal amount: $104.8M
😇 Angel investors: Ankit Khera, Gaurav Bedi, Maninder Gulati, and others
New Delhi’s SimSim is a video-based e-commerce platform designed to replicate offline consumption behavior online through interactive experiences. Founded in 2018, its platform uses social media influencers to promote and explain product features to help sellers increase their revenue and buyers to have a retail store experience. Since its first capital raise—their 2019 angel deal—SimSim was most recently acquired by YouTube for $70 million in 2021.
4. Content Engineers
🗓️ Deal date: January 25, 2022
💰 Deal amount: $50M
😇 Angel investors: Veear Projects
Headquartered in Mumbai, Content Engineers is a film and digital studio that creates content in all forms. More specifically, the company brings a methodical approach to creating IP to fulfill the growing demand for original Indian content. Founded in 2022, the company’s $50 million angel round from Veear Projects—an angel group—was its first capital raise.
5. Gofido
🗓️ Deal date: March 10, 2020
💰 Deal amount: $50M
😇 Angel investors: N/A
Stockholm, Sweden’s Gofido is a home insurance platform that was founded in 2018. The company has received three rounds of angel funding since its founding, the largest being this $50 million round—provided by undisclosed angel investors—in March 2020. Most recently, Gofido raised another $4.5 million in August 2021, also from undisclosed angel investors.
6. Kaiyun Motors
🗓️ Deal date: July 13, 2021
💰 Deal amount: $50M
😇 Angel investors: De Liu, Jiangji Huang
Beijing-based Kaiyun Motors manufactures new energy vehicles designed for last-mile home delivery logistics and commuting. The company’s vehicles include low-speed electric all-terrain pickup trucks and smart mini electric cars. Founded in 2014, Kaiyun Motors has raised five rounds of capital—two early-stage, two later-stage, and its most recent, this $50 million angel round in July 2021.
7. Black News Channel
🗓️ Deal date: November 15, 2019
💰 Deal amount: $50M
😇 Angel investors: Shahid Khan
Headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida, Black News Channel is a multi-platform news and information channel created to feature culturally-specific content for Black audiences in the US. Founded in 2003, the company was most recently acquired by the Allen Media Group for $11 million in July 2022. With this acquisition, Black News Channel was bought out of bankruptcy after filing for Chapter 11 in March 2022.
8. Abound
🗓️ Deal date: April 15, 2021
💰 Deal amount: $44.2M
😇 Angel investors: N/A
London-based Abound provides consumer lending services that intend to offer low-cost personal credit. The company’s platform utilizes open banking data, building a granular view of customers’ financial circumstances to provide those with low credit scores access to affordable credit. Founded in 2020, Abound’s 2021 angel round—its first capital raise—was a combination of debt and equity via undisclosed angels. It has since raised two additional rounds, early-stage Series A and B.
9. Hebo Kehui
🗓️ Deal date: October 9, 2022
💰 Deal amount: $42.5M
😇 Angel investors: N/A
Chengdu, China’s Hebo Kehui is an automotive company that sells and manufactures new energy vehicles and automotive vehicle parts. Founded in 2022, Hebo Kehui has completed just one deal—its $42.5 million round in October of that year, raised from undisclosed angel investors to develop new energy cars.
10. UFL
🗓️ Deal date: December 12, 2023
💰 Deal amount: $40M
😇 Angel investors: Cristiano Ronaldo
Based in Limassol, Cyprus, the UFL is a gaming software designed to offer free-to-play football (American soccer) video games. Founded in 2016, the company has completed one deal—its $40 million round in December 2023. The angel investor behind that deal was decorated Portuguese professional footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in the forward position for both Saudi Pro League Club Al Nassr and Portugal’s national team.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this article provides a primer on angel investments and investors, looks at what angel investors should keep top of mind when assessing new opportunities, and provides context for some of the largest angel investments of recent years.
Additionally, the platform walkthrough illustrates how you might find tailored, actionable data with PitchBook, whether you’re a current or future PitchBook client. And this was just one search—there’s so much more at your fingertips with full platform access.
PitchBook is the premier platform for angel investors—including current angel investor and former pro golfer Michelle Wie West—who are looking for new opportunities to get in at the ground floor of tomorrow’s rising star startups. Check out the video below to learn more about how Wie West leverages PitchBook to gather intelligence on potential investment targets.
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