AngelList: Then and Now

What it is

AngelList, a financing platform for startups has experienced tremendous growth since its inception in 2010. Perfect for angel investor syndicates, it allows individual accredited investors to get in on the deals from these groups. It also allows syndicates to co-invest with large venture capital firms. This is revolutionary in the process of funding startups, as it allows regular investors to get a piece of high-valued startups that they otherwise wouldn’t have the funding for.

Growth

AngelList shows some impressive 2015 statistics on its website. There was a whopping $163 million raised through its platform. This was an increase of more than $60 million compared to 2014. The platform had 441 startups, over 3300 individual investors, and 170 active syndicates.

Furthermore, AngelList also acts as a teeming job board for startups and companies, doubling its number of job candidates from 2014 to 250,000 in 2015. It noted that over 16,000 companies used its platform to list job openings.

Great for Startups and Investors

AngelList is a terrific platform for startups because it is free for them to maintain a profile and seek capital. Angel investors have to pay to use it, so often times they will rely on their local angel groups to be on AngelList, and invest through them.

On AngelList deal flow isn’t really a problem. There are so many startups with profile and more joining/applying for funding every day. This gives both angel investors, angel groups, as well as VC firms the chance to constantly filter and search for companies with huge potential.

Funding

AngelList has already received $400 million from one of the largest VC Firms in the world, CSC Venture Capital. For being an early stage startup, this is extremely impressive and shows that many prominent investors believe that AngelList has incredible potential.

What’s Next for AngelList?

AngelList has provided an easier means for startups and investors to find each other. So what is the platform’s next step? Many prominent venture capitalists including those at CSC, believe AngelList could eventually go on to offering company IPOs on its platform. This would truly revolutionize the financing process for companies and is an exciting thing to look out for in the next few years.

Sources:

https://angel.co/2015/

http://www.wsj.com/articles/coming-soon-from-china-a-400-million-bonanza-for-u-s-startups-1444622462?mod=trending_now_3

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