Super angel

Super angel (or "super-angel") was a term used in the early 2010s to describe venture capital investors who had once been angel investors and subsequently raised small venture capital funds.[1]

Super angels share some characteristics of both angel investors and venture capitalists. According to Fast Company, super angels "raise funds like venture capitalists but invest early like angels and in sums between the two, on average from $250,000 to $500,000."[2] Unlike traditional angel investors, they are typically professionals for whom investing is their primary occupation.[3]

Features

Some common features of super angels include:

  • Creating a professionally managed investment fund[1]
  • Serial investing (investing in numerous startup companies)
  • Investing at a seed round in startup companies
  • Funding rounds in the (approximate) range of $50,000 to several million dollars, larger than typical "friends and family" rounds but smaller than most venture rounds
  • Taking an active role in portfolio companies[4]
  • Raising money from general partners and other principals, without passive investors in the fund
  • Fund principals who are experienced entrepreneurs
  • Avoid joining boards as a long-term investor.
  • Close investments in several weeks, considerably faster than venture funds.[2]

List of investors described as super angels

Name of fund Key people Selected portfolio companies
Canvas Ventures[5] Rebecca Lynn,[6] Paul Hsaio LendingClub
500 Startups[7] Dave McClure SlideShare, CrowdFlower, Udemy
Felicis Ventures[8] Aydin Senkut Meraki, Mint.com
Floodgate Fund[9] Mike Maples Jr., Ann Miura-Ko Chegg, Dasient, Digg, Twitter
Founder Collective[10] Caterina Fake, Chris Dixon, David Frankel, Eric Paley, Micah Rosenbloom Uber, Coupang, Trade Desk, PillPack, SeatGeek
Founders Fund[11] Peter Thiel, Sean Parker, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek Gowalla, Causes, Facebook, Quantcast, SpaceX, Spotify
Harrison Metal [12] Michael Dearing AdMob, Lumosity, Aardvark
Lerer Hippeau Ventures[13] Kenneth Lerer, Ben Lerer
Lowercase Capital[14] Chris Sacca Twitter, bit.ly, Uber
Luminar Ventures[15] Magnus Bergman Truecaller, Prezi
SoftTech VC Jeff Clavier[16] Tapulous, RapLeaf
SV Angel[17] Ron Conway, David Lee, Mike Ghaffary, Brian Pokorny (former) Google, Ask Jeeves, Facebook, BuzzFeed, PayPal
Thrive Capital[18] Joshua Kushner Vostu

References

  1. ^ a b Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Who Are The Super Angels? A Comprehensive Guide". Business Insider.
  2. ^ a b Farhad Manjoo (February 2011). "How "Super Angel" Investors Are Reinventing the Startup Economy". Fast Company.
  3. ^ Pui-Wing Tam and Spencer E. Ante (August 16, 2010). "'Super Angels' Alight". Wall Street Journal.
  4. ^ Ingram, Mathew (October 7, 2010). "Fred Wilson on AngelGate and Where the Web Is Going". GigaOM. Archived from the original on October 11, 2010.
  5. ^ Szkutak, Rebecca. "Canvas Ventures Raises $350 Million To Help Bring Intentionality Back To Early-Stage Investing". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  6. ^ Gage, Deborah (2015-03-02). "How a Female Partner Rose to the Top of Canvas Venture Fund". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  7. ^ Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Dave McClure". Business Insider.
  8. ^ Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Felicis Ventures". Business Insider.
  9. ^ Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Floodgate". Business Insider.
  10. ^ Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Founder Collective". Business Insider.
  11. ^ Ricadela, Aaron (April 2, 2007). "VCs Aim to Out-Angel the Angels". Business Week. Archived from the original on April 6, 2007.
  12. ^ Loizos, Connie (2018-03-27). ""Time to keep going" says Harrison Metal, closing on a new, $68 million fund". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
  13. ^ Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Lerer Ventures". Business Insider.
  14. ^ Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Lowercase Capital". Business Insider.
  15. ^ Taylor, Dan (January 20, 2022). "Luminar Ventures". Tech.EU.
  16. ^ Destin, Fred (August 6, 2010). "Super Angels, Lean VCs, Proto-Incubators, Whatever". Fast Company.
  17. ^ Tomio Geron (October 18, 2010). "Ron Conway's Big Deals: How He Found Google And Facebook". Wall Street Journal.
  18. ^ Saint, Nick (October 4, 2010). "Thrive Capital". Business Insider.