Archangel investor to call on all angels – help emerging firms

20 Oct 2011

The head of Scotland’s largest angel investment syndicate Archangels will address Irish angel investors who have more than €5m to invest in emerging companies.

The Archangels syndicate invests some £10m a year in equity ready companies. The Angel Leaders Forum event has been arranged by Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN), the all-island umbrella group for business angel investing in Ireland.

Lawyer, financier and Archangels head John Waddell, along with accomplished UK angel investor Nelson Gray, will share advice, insight and recommendations with their Irish angel counterparts on how to structure their investments, evaluate deals and minimise risk using a syndicate-based approach towards investing. 

European angels have invested €3bn in emerging companies

Ireland is catching up on international trends where syndicates of private investors have become a well established source of capital for innovative companies. The European Business Angels Network (EBAN) estimates there are some 75,000 private investors over 300 syndicates in Europe with more than €3bn invested in emerging companies.

The costs of starting a company are less today than they were some years ago and private investors can create an exponential growth effect with their funding.

Investments are also providing value for money as valuations are reflecting economic conditions. Investing in early stage companies is also considered to be an attractive prospect by many investors following the fall in stock market and property values.

HBAN was set up in 2009 and focuses on supporting companies that are seeking to raise financing of between €250,000 and more than €1m by linking entrepreneurs to individual investors or investment syndicates. 

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com