Dramatic change in angel investing means both threats and opportunities for the angel investment community and the tens of thousands of entrepreneurs they support, according to the Angel Capital Association (ACA), the world’s leading professional association for angel investors. The global angel investing community will debate and assess this new environment at the 2014 ACA Summit, “Angel Impact: Entrepreneurial and Economic Success,” March 26-28, 2014, in Washington, D.C.
U.S. angel investors – individuals who support startup companies with passion, experience and funding – in 2012 invested nearly $23 billion in about 67,000 ventures, according to estimates by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. Their impact on the economy is huge, as the kinds of innovative startups angels invest in create all of the net new jobs in the country, according to reports by the Census Bureau and Kauffman Foundation.