The 2015 Annual Halo Report has been released by The Angel Resource Institute at Willamette University (ARI) and PitchBook.  The Halo Report analyzes angel group investment activity and trends in the United States.  Here are a couple interesting FY 2015 highlights:

  • The median seed-stage valuation for 2015 deals hit an all-time high of $4.6M (up from 53% from 2014);
  • The median and mean round sizes in deals with only angel investors climbed to $850K and $1.164M, respectively (both up materially from 2014);
  • The median and mean round sizes in


Continue Reading Angel Investment Trends: FY 2015 Halo Report

The Q3 2015 Halo Report has been released by The Angel Resource Institute at Willamette University (ARI) and PitchBook.  The Halo Report analyzes angel group investment activity and trends in the United States.  Here are a couple interesting Q3 2015 highlights:

  • The median seed-stage valuation has hit an all-time high of $4M (up from $3M in 2014);
  • The median round size in deals with only angel investors was $725K and the median round size in deals when angels co-invest with non-angels was $1.71M (both up materially from Q3 2014);


Continue Reading Angel Investment Trends: Q3 2015 Halo Report

Bill Carleton has a good post regarding the recent comments from Keith Higgins, the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, who spoke at the 2014 Angel Capital Association Summit.  Higgins discussed the SEC’s principles-based approach with respect to meeting the requirements of new Rule 506(c). 

Since the SEC’s adoption of new Rule 506(c) in September 2013 allowing general solicitation by issuing companies in certain circumstances, angel investors have been concerned about the accredited investor verification standards set forth in those new rules.  The debate has centered around what actions
Continue Reading Accredited Investor Verification under Rule 506(c)

The Q1 2013 Halo Report report has been released by The Angel Resource Institute (ARI), Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and CB Insights.  The report, available for download here, is a a national survey of angel group investment activity.

Highlights of the Q113 report include the following:

  • Round sizes trended up to a median of $680K per deal, a 5 quarter high;
  • Pre-money valuations remained at $2.5 million; and
  • Internet, healthcare and mobile deals attracted the most angel interest (72% of Q1 deals, obtaining 64% of the angel


Continue Reading Angel Investment Trends: Q1 2013 Halo Report

Here is the second half of The Venture SpotLight interview with Rebecca Lovell, the Chief Business Officer of GeekWire, the tech news site based in Seattle.  You can find the first installment of our talk with Rebecca here.

Biggest mistake you have made in your career/business?  Staying in a comfortable job for too long back in my corporate days.

What did you study as an undergraduate at Carleton College?  I designed my own American Studies Major: sort of history-based with a little English and religion and women’s studies all mashed up.  I was absolutely set to go into a non-profit.  That was my game plan.

What did you do instead?  Great big companies would come to Carleton, this little liberal arts college, because they wanted to hire smart people and train them to do whatever it was they needed.  I ended up filling a slot at an informational session to take notes for someone else.  The recruiter convinced me to come meet with him.  I borrowed a suit, interviewed and the next thing I know, I am in a management development program for an industrial supply distribution company in Chicago.  So that’s what I did with my liberal arts degree.  I went and learned everything there is to learn about logistics and socket head cap screws and marketing and finance and accounts receivable and inventory management along the way and six years later I woke up in Cleveland.Continue Reading The Venture Spotlight: Rebecca Lovell, GeekWire (Part II)

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Megan Muir

Although the dollar amounts may be relatively small, there is increasing competition for early stage startup investments that is driving up valuations.  Paul Graham talked about this phenomenon at Y Combinator’s annual Startup School (see here for Graham’s presentation).  VCs are making some small seed investments in dollar amounts you’d typically see from angels, creating pressure on other investors to get in a deal quickly and allowing founders to push valuations higher.  Dow Jones VentureWire reporter Tomio Geron has a good summary here.

The speed
Continue Reading Venture capitalists playing in the land of angels