Launching our Tech for Good Angel Research project

We’re excited to announce our research study to find out how many angels are investing in tech for good.

Angels (affluent or high-net-worth individuals providing capital for a startup) are undoubtedly a critical source of capital for early-stage founders. According to data from Beauhurst, individual angels participated in 627 investment rounds last year, with angel networks participating in 266 This makes business angels the second most common investor type in the UK equity market. At the same time, impact investing is on the rise. And yet little to no data exists about the levels of angel investments going into tech for good businesses, let alone understanding the motivations behind it.

Whilst many studies exist providing more insight into angel investing in the UK, (this is the latest from UKBAA, for example), there’s a significant lack of research about angel activity into tech investments geared towards positive outcomes for people and planet.

Programmes focused on diversity, such as Atomico’s Angel Programme, and most recently Ada Ventures’ second angel programme, are growing, and there’s a strong correlation between backing diverse talent and tech for good.

At BGV, we work with founders from all walks of life, many of whom are first-time entrepreneurs or don’t have access to the ‘friends and family’ investment that some founders do. With an uncertain VC funding environment, we often get queries from founders about ways to meet angels, especially where they lack those networks, as they often are the only available source of capital at such an early-stage.

So we asked ourselves, what would it take to get better insights on tech for good angel investment? For the past few months we’ve been digging deeper into this topic, speaking to numerous angels, syndicates, groups and ecosystem players to understand what could be done. And today, we’re excited to kick off part of our research project with a survey for individuals to inform our research going forward.

With sponsorship from our partners SVB UK, and the guidance of our steering committee, which includes Jenny Tooth (UKBAA), Tom Adeyoola (Extend Ventures), and Sameer Singh (Atomico Angel), we’re looking forward to uncovering the many facets of angel investments in tech for good. Our aim is to build a repository of resources to enable more individuals to explore angel investing in tech for good businesses, and critically, provide resources and insight for founders into how to access vital angel investment.

If you’re an angel, take part in our survey.

If you’re a tech for good founder with angels on your cap table, please pass on the link to this survey to them.

We’re also running two events for angels to hear from seasoned and brand new tech for good angels and discuss the challenges and opportunities of tech for good angel investing in more detail.

So if you’re an angel interested in tech for good, make sure to register for our London roundtable event on April 19th or register for our virtual roundtable on April 20th. Please note that this event is for angels only, so we’ll confirm registrations on a case by case basis.

If you’d like to discuss our research project further, please drop me a line.