Angel Academe - Investment for Female Founders

INVESTMENT CRITERIA:

• You are a female founder or co-founder who owns significant founder equity (not options) in the business.
• Your technology startup has an innovative solution to an important global problem in areas including health, finance, education, security and climate change.
• You have relevant industry, technical and startup experience in your team and a strong vision for the future of your business.
• You have a working product, business model and market traction. B2B businesses are preferred but we will consider B2C and marketplaces with growing revenue, ideally recurring.
• You are well aware of your competition, clearly differentiated from it and with good barriers to entry.
• You are addressing a large global market and can articulate how you will return a minimum 10X to investors within 3-7 years.
• You are a UK business with a £1m - £10m pre-money valuation and eligible for SEIS and/or EIS tax relief.
• You are raising £250,000-£5,000,000 of equity investment.
• You are able and willing to work with external advisors and recognise the value of a diverse cap table.

SELECTION PROCESS:

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, all businesses that pitch to Angel Academe investors go through our transparent 4-stage selection process. The process ensures our investors can focus on opportunities most relevant to them, while maximising the potential for entrepreneurs to successfully raise investment.

Over 70% of the businesses who pitch to our investors receive funding. Although the amount varies from deal to deal and nothing is guaranteed, our members typically invest £70k-£350k.

Stage 1: Online application

We only accept applications made online and we read all applications received. The application form is easy and quick to complete and questions are designed to help us assess whether your business is a good fit for our investors.

Stage 2: Online screening call

If you pass the 1st stage, you'll be invited to join one of our regular online screening calls. During the call you’ll be asked to present your investment opportunity to members of the Angel Academe team as well as some of our lead angels and answer questions. Our aim is to get to know you and your business and for you to meet some of our investors in a relatively informal setting.

Stage 3: Review and selection

We then review the applications that have come through screening and whittle it down to the 3 companies who’ll be invited to present at our next pitch event. Review happens over the course of a week a few weeks before each pitch event, so it may be some time between making your application and hearing from us.

Stage 4: Pitch prep

Shortlisted companies are then required to attend a pre-meeting with us 1-2 weeks prior to the pitch event. This is a chance for us to give you more background on the group, share feedback and help you fine-tune your pitch for our investors. You’ll also meet some of our lead investors and the other founders presenting.

Pitch events (these are being run online currently)

We run 5 pitch events per year, at which 3 startups who’ve come through our selection process pitch to our angels. Each company has 10 mins to pitch, 10 mins for Q&A. At least 40 angels attend each event.

Investor due diligence

Our investors are responsible for their own due diligence, but we encourage them to work as a team and and follow our due diligence process. Expect several follow-up calls and detailed questions. This is your opportunity to get to know potential investors and they you. You’ll also be asked to share a data room with information on your:

• Business - CVs and contracts for team members, advisors, key suppliers and customers; trading history and financial forecasts; IP; marketing strategy; competitor analysis; product roadmap etc.
• Current and previous funding rounds - term sheet and shareholder agreement, cap table, S/EIS advanced assurance; outstanding loans etc.

Investment

We aim to close investments as quickly as possible once your full round is in place. You can help speed up the process by having all your DD information available in a data room for potential investors to review.

You’ll need to send share certificates and EIS forms to your investors and keep them informed through regular written updates and periodic shareholder meetings.

Fees

We charge a 5% success fee on all investment raised from introductions. There are no application, pitch or review fees, monitoring fees, fees applied at exit or obligations to buy services from us or our partners.