South East Angels, Brighton’s most active business angel investment network, has launched a new initiative to tackle the diversity problem in venture capital. Future Angels will host frequent events that are open to anyone intrigued about angel investment so they can come along and meet like-minded people, learn, and grow their network.

The Flywheelers, a specialist comms agency for high-growth startups and scaleups, has published a new research report into what technology startup and scaleup founders can do to raise their profile and boost their attractiveness with investors.

More than 30 of Wales’ most successful female entrepreneurs and business leaders have united to form Women Angels of Wales (WAW),  

Par Equity invested £38m in early-stage technology businesses across the North of the UK in 2022, up from £25m in 2021, making it one of the most prominent and active technology investors in the region. The venture capital firm, which benefits from a panel of over 200 Angel investors, backed 27 companies in 2022, of which ten were new additions to the portfolio.

Edinburgh-based investment syndicate, Archangels, invested £13.4m during 2022 in some of Scotland’s most promising early-stage tech and life science companies. The total investment for 2022 among 11 businesses marks a 14% increase on Archangels’ investment activity in 2021 (11.8m).  New additions to the portfolio included tech firm Earth Blox who secured £1.5m funding from Archangels to expand its global reach and further develop its no-code Earth Observation (EO) cloud-based SaaS.

USA: The Angel Capital Association publishes the Angel Funders Report annually to increase awareness about angel investor activity and build a deeper understanding of the investing environment. 

EBAN Vice President Selma Prodanovic, considers why gender bias could mean investors are missing out on the best investment opportunities.

*US* The Angel Investor Foundation (AIF) has secured a $300,000 pledge to its Seed the Future capital campaign from the Payne Family, a name synonymous with angel investing. This is the second significant pledge from the Paynes and it brings their campaign contributions to more than half a million dollars.

More than £4m has been injected into eight innovative Northern businesses thanks to the collaborative efforts of three Angel networks to bring investors and opportunities together.   

With deals spanning a large area of the Northern Powerhouse; Newcastle Angel Hub, NorthInvest and the Women Angels of the North Syndicate have worked with some of the brightest Northern businesses and entrepreneurs to secure equity investment for growth, via a series of joint pitch events. Many of the deals have also leveraged further investment via Innovate UK programmes, including the Regional Angel Investment Accelerator, which is managed across the North by Innovation SuperNetwork via the Newcastle Angel Hub and NorthInvest.  

Finland: The Finnish Business Angel Network announced its Angel Awards for 2021, recongising work of exceptional angel investors.

British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has announced a commitment of up to £15m to Science Creates Ventures (SCV) through the Regional Angels Programme. The majority of this commitment will be allocated to invest alongside SCV Fund 2, while a smaller portion of the commitment will be used for co-investments through the existing SCV EIS Fund (SCV Fund 1).

Nix and Kix, a low-calorie carbonated soft drink brand with a focus on natural, vegan ingredients, has received investment from one Henley Business Angels member, contributing towards a funding round of £1m.