Business angels are generally wealthy individuals who are former entrepreneurs or executives who invest in entrepreneurial companies. Business angels are active, in one way or another, in every country worldwide. This type of investor is called a business angel because many perceive that they save struggling firms with both finance and know-how when no one else will. Though angel investing has both its advantages and disadvantages, it is widely agreed that the advantages of business angels generally outweigh their disadvantages, making an active informal venture capital market a prerequisite for a vigorous enterprise economy.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's (GEM) "2000 Executive Report" informal private investment in emerging and new business dwarf the more formal venture capital outlays. For the United States alone, total private investments in entrepreneurial companies in 1999 was more than US$ 63 billion - far more than the US$ 46 billion the professional venture capital industry invested during the same period in start-up and growing firms. Since 1997, the population of business angels in the country has grown by 63% to 400,000. In 2000, the US business angels put an estimated US$ 40 billion behind 50,000 deals. In the European Union, it's estimated that at least one million of potential angels represent a total investment pool of US$ 10-20 billion.

There are many investment clubs around the world that facilitate networking among business angels and link them to investment opportunities.

Register as a Business Angel