More angels, but less money.
Those were the conclusions of two new surveys examining
trends in angel investments for the first half of 2007.
Overall, angel investing totaled $11.9 billion in the first six
months, a 6 percent decline versus the year-ago period, according to a study by
the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.
The survey tallied 24,000 entrepreneurial companies that
received angel funding in the first half, 2 percent fewer than in the
comparable 2006 period.
For the same period, the Center for Venture Research found
an 8 percent increase in the number of active individual investors to 140,000.
The increased interest in angel investing was echoed by a
study by the Angel Capital Association, based in Kansas City, Missouri.
The ACA survey of angel groups found that the average number of accredited
investors per group climbed 28 percent, from 41 in the first half of 2006 to 52.5
in the first half of this year.
“More investors are seeing there are advantages to being
part of groups,” said Marianne Hudson, executive director of the Angel Capital
Association. “There are advantages in being able to pool your resources, see
better deals while remaining anonymous yourself and learning the investment
process from others.”
The ACA estimates that 10,000 to 12,000 angel investors in
the United States and Canada are affiliated with groups and Ms. Hudson
said the Southeast and Midwest have shown particularly
strong growth in the number of groups formed in recent years.
Increases in the number of angel groups, however, were offset
in the first half of 2007 by a 12 percent decline in average deal size to
$211,000 versus the 2006 period, according to the ACA.
Though angels continue to be a major source of seed money for
entrepreneurs, they are increasingly putting money into later-stage deals, the
Center for Venture Research found.
Angels made 42 percent of their investments in seed and
start-up capital in the first half with the remainder going to later-stage
investments.
“This appetite for post-seed/start-up investing continues a
trend that began in 2004 and represents a significant change from historical
levels,” Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for Venture Research, said in a
statement. “While angels are not abandoning seed and start-up investing, it
appears that market conditions, the preferences of large formal angel
alliances, and a possible slight restructuring of the angel market are
resulting in angels engaging in more later-stage investments.”
The ACA found angel groups made an average of 3.7
investments in the first half, on pace to equal the 7.4 investments reported
for all of 2006.
Though the ACA survey found angel relations to be
increasingly cordial with venture capitalists, who typically pick-up
post-seed-stage funding and sometimes provide referrals of startup companies, the
survey noted several points of friction.
Almost 71 percent of angel groups reported VCs inserted “pay
to play” provisions in funding agreements, meaning that prior investors who do
not invest pro rata in a new round lose rights and see their investment converted
to common stock. More than 54 percent complained that their equity positions were
diluted through recapitalization and more than 20 percent charged later
investors with changing investment terms to gain better returns.
The Center for Venture Research reported that 61 percent of investment
exits by angels were through acquisition by another firm, 33 percent through
bankruptcy and 6 percent through an initial public offering. That survey found
that angels invested in 19 percent of the deals brought to their attention in
the first half, slightly off the 20.1 percent for all of 2006.