Best Angel Investors for Startups to Consider
When you need an investor for your business, your primary choices are venture capital funds (VCs) and angel investors. While venture capital funds are an attractive option for startups looking for access to a large network and hefty investments, an angel investor can be preferable for startups who could use a higher level of personal mentorship when growing their company.
Angels invest their personal funds into businesses they believe in, often within their realm of expertise, in exchange for equity in your company. They typically provide much more than just capital investment, offering insights from their experience and working closely with founders to develop and scale the startup.
If an angel investor sounds like the right funding source your startup needs to get off the ground, get familiar with the best angel investors for your niche:
Meet Angel Investor Steve MacDonald
Steve MacDonald is an angel investor based out of Tampa Bay, Florida, with over $400 million in exits and more than 100 investments throughout the innovative cannabis, fintech, SaaS, and tech startup space.
Steve’s rise to success was kickstarted by the 2017 sale of his pharmacy benefits company myMatrixx. Using what he learned from his own experience and the $250 million profit from his myMatrixx sale, Steve pivoted his efforts to focus on finding and funding the next generation of tech-centric innovators through his next endeavor, MacDonald Ventures.
Steve takes a highly integrated investing approach, joining companies in their earliest stages and providing his mentorship as well as capital to help his investments thrive.
Steve’s current investments include Blend, Finexio, Kush Marketplace, and SoftWear Automation, among others.
Do you have a startup in the cannabis, fintech, SaaS, or tech space? Discover some other options for angel investments in each of these industries.
Best Angel Investors for Cannabis Startups:
These are some of the top investment companies that fund your cannabusiness.
KEY Investment Partners
KEY Investment Partners is a private equity firm that connects investors to the best opportunities in the cannabis landscape, focusing on providing capital to high-growth companies in a strong position to lead the cannabis market.
KEY Investment Partners Investments
HERBL is a cannabis supply chain company connecting every step of the logistics process, providing full-service distribution and data insights as well as B2C delivery, inventory management, and e-commerce support.
LivWell began as a single medical cannabis dispensary in Colorado and has grown into a collection of 21 retail stores and a medical cannabis provisioning center.
Canopy Boulder
Canopy Boulder is a business accelerator and venture fund focused on cannabis accessory products and services. The venture fund supports seed-stage startups with capital and mentorship to make their place in the industry and find diversified investment opportunities.
Canopy Boulder Investments
One of Canopy Boulder’s investments is Hemp Business Journal, a publication covering strategic data and information within the hemp industry, including market trends, interviews with key leaders, and competitive analysis.
Bloom Automation is a robotics technology developer catering to the medical and commercial cannabis industry. Their products include high-speed and highly precise robots and automation technology that enhances cannabis cultivation.
Best Angel Investors for Fintech Startups:
Satya Patel – partner at Homebrew
With former experience at Twitter and Google, Satya Patel brings a deep knowledge of the tech landscape to all of his early-stage investments. Patel currently serves as a partner at Homebrew, a seed-stage investment fund focused on the bottom-up economy.
Satya Patel Investments
Chime is a popular fintech company that partners with banks to provide mobile banking solutions, such as online checking and savings accounts, free of fees for users.
Finix Payments is built to help fintech companies and SaaS platforms manage payments, reduce churn, and create a better customer experience through developer-friendly API.
Pete Flint – General Partner at NFX
Pete Flint co-founded Trulia, the online real estate marketplace, and has since turned his focus to investing in pre-seed and seed-stage fintech startups as the General Partner at NFX, a venture firm with interest in fintech, Web3, and gaming, among other niches.
Pete Flint Investments
Tomo is designed to be the credit card for the next generation. Catered to young adults, Tomo doesn’t require a credit check to apply, charges no fees, and allows up to a 10k spending limit.
Lev Capital is on a mission to digitize commercial real estate sales through its technology platform, which utilizes automation and data to simplify the process.
Best Angel Investors for SAAS Startups:
Jeff Clavier – Uncork Capital
Founder and Managing Partner of Uncork Capital, Jeff Clavier has spent 20+ years advising and investing in early-stage tech startups. With Uncork Capital, Clavier’s goal is to support companies in their earliest months of life, with a focus on SaaS companies.
Jeff Clavier Investments
Shippo is a multi-carrier shipping platform designed for the e-commerce merchant that can integrate seamlessly with various e-comm platforms and offers discounted shipping rates by working directly with shipping providers.
Clothing resale platform and marketplace Poshmark is a popular way for fashion lovers to make money selling their clothes through a mobile-friendly app. With protections for buyers and sellers, Poshmark makes it easier and safer to buy and sell online
Dave Samuel – Founding General Partner at Freestyle Capital
Dave Samuel has been a hustling entrepreneur since he was just a kid selling newspapers. Now, he uses his startup experience to support tech-facing startups through his venture capital fund, Freestyle Capital.
Dave Samuel Investments
Recurly is a comprehensive subscription management and billing platform to help businesses across industries accelerate and automate subscriber growth at scale.
Chirp Interactive is a social media platform aggregator that combines feeds from sites like Facebook with other integrations to keep users connected in one comprehensive place.
Best Angel Investors for Tech Startups:
Steve MacDonald
Steve MacDonald provides more than capital to many of his angel investments, nurturing and mentoring founders he works with, leveraging his own entrepreneurial experience and investing success to help startups committed to building a better future. With a special interest in innovative tech startups, Steve MacDonald’s investment portfolio includes startups across industries, such as cannabis, fintech, SaaS, healthcare, and more.
Pasadena Angels
Pasadena Angels is an angel investor network comprised of 100 angels that provides up to $750,000 in financing to seed-stage US startups with high growth potential.
Pasadena Angels Investments
MindBody Software is a cloud-based scheduling and booking software solution sold as a service that connects small to mid-sized businesses in the wellness industry to health-minded customers.
H2scan is an affordable and accurate hydrogen leak detection and gas measurement system that can analyze complex gas streams to monitor safety.
Alliance of Angels
Based in Seattle, Washington, Alliance of Angels is made up of 140+ angel investors who provide both capital and mentorship to over 20 startups annually. Though they have a tech focus, Alliance of Angels is best-suited for startups in the information technology (IT) space.
Alliance of Angels Investments
DocuSign is a popular way to digitally sign documents and complete paperwork. Additionally, DocuSign can automate contract and agreement workflows, manage paperwork through its lifecycle, and provide detailed contract analytics to improve processes.
Teal Communications provides eSIM chips and an enterprise platform that allows IoT device makers to connect devices to any cellular network in their mission to end roaming.
Best Angel Investors for Healthcare Tech Startups:
Golden Seeds
Golden Seeds is one of the largest angel networks in the US, with over 340 members across eight different chapters. Golden Seeds specifically seeks out startups run by women, with a special interest in the life sciences and tech industries.
Golden Seeds Investments
Bone Health Technologies is a developer of alternative, new-age therapies for bone diseases, such as the OsteoBoost wearable device designed to create gentle stimulation to the spine and hips and discourage bone loss.
Consortia Health develops drug- and surgery-free therapies for incontinence and other health disorders.
Tech Coast Angels
Tech Coast Angels target startups in the life sciences, biopharma, and medical technology space, with over 450 members and over 575 total investments.
Tech Coast Angels Investments
Active Life Scientific is a medical tech firm taking a new approach to understanding bone health. With the development of the Bone Score™ device, Active Life Scientific has created the first and only FDA-approved device that measures bone in real-time.
Actuate Therapies is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company concentrating on developing compounds to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases that can lead to fibrosis.
What to Look For In the Right Angel Investor
While the specific details of what you’re looking for will vary, these four factors should help inform your decision:
- Track record – Look for more than just deep pockets. Research their investing track record, take note of their previous investments and check for successful exits.
- Domain expertise – The right investor will possess niche experience in your domain through operational, entrepreneurial, or investment experience.
- Connections – An angel with a wide network of other potential investors, customers, vendors, or key hires can be of great benefit.
- Chemistry – Your angel investor should be someone you can count on, who believes in your talent and skill, and understands your vision. They should also be someone you wouldn’t mind spending a lot of time with.
Starting On the Right Foot
Finding the right angel investor is a huge advantage for your startup in ways beyond just capital. Your angel investor’s expertise, time, connections, and industry experience are invaluable.
Knowing where to start is one of the hardest parts. This list is a good first step to conducting angel investor research and may point you in the right direction. And, if you’re a B2B tech startup founder with a game-changing idea in one of these industries, the right direction might be MacDonald Ventures. If this sounds like you, reach out.
