We are proud to be world’s largest online network of angel investors and entrepreneurs – we even passed 1 million users at the end of 2018. This scale means our data can reveal some interesting insights into the angel investment landscape. We’ve collected this information into a report which we’ve called the ‘State of the Angel Investment Nation’.
This first version of the report digs into the trends in the UK based on the data from more than 100,000 businesses and 30,000 investors.
Some Key Findings:
In a snapshot: Software retains its 2017 position as best performing sector, while food & beverage, fintech and property ventures showed strong growth.
• The UK’s position as a hub for food and beverage startups is highlighted by significant growth in both investors and pitch ideas. The sector climbed from the 4th to the 2nd most backed category by investors and remains the third most popular category for pitch ideas.
• Property remains an incredibly robust category for both investment and entrepreneurs. It matched its 2017 positions as third most popular sector for investors and second for pitch ideas. On the back of this, Angel Investment Network has launched BrickTribe – a platform focused specifically on property investments.
• Site activity mirrored growing societal interest in impact investment, with investor searches for impact-related terms up an average of 24.9% from 2017. The fastest growing sector was ‘renewables‘ which climbed from 40th to 32nd (a 25.4% increase in number of searches). ‘Greentech’ showed a 25.7% increase while ‘environmental’ had a 23.5% increase.
• Searches for ‘robotics’ were up by 7.8% becoming the 4th most popular search term for investors.
Discrepancies between number of Pitches and number of Interested Investors
The results also revealed a large discrepancy in some categories between the level of investment interest and the number of entrepreneurs looking for funding.
• Fashion was the 6th largest sector for pitch ideas, but drops to 14th in terms of the number of investors interested, with three times as many pitch ideas as investors.
• Technology sees a significant discrepancy between investors and pitch ideas. While it is the 4th most popular sector for investors, this falls to 9 for pitch ideas.
• The UK market seems to be under-served for investors in the medical sector. It is the 6th most popular category for investors but only 14th for pitch ideas.
View from the Founders
Angel Investment Network co-founder James Badgett commented:
“We are pleased to present our first public ‘State of Angel Investment Nation’. We hit the million-user mark just before the end of 2018 and so we feel the volume of our data is significant enough to yield meaningful insights.”
“Unsurprisingly, software and technology continue as strong performing sectors. We think the UK’s growing reputation as a FinTech hub, in particular, has helped these sectors maintain their positions. We’ve also seen a rise in other sectors including insurtech, AI/machine learning and IoT.”
Co-founder Mike Lebus added:
“The growth in investor interest for impact-related businesses is a rapidly rising trend and we expect this to continue over 2019 and beyond as investors increasingly become aware of the value of a conscience-driven approach. Impact projects we raised funds for in 2018 include Verv – an AI home energy assistant – and Demizine – an end-to-end home water recycling system using technology originally engineered for space stations.”
“Notable FinTech companies we’ve raised for include Coconut – current account with inbuilt accounting – and Novastone – a ‘WhatsApp’ for the finance sector. Another cutting-edge client in 2018 was Humanising Autonomy who’ve built the most advanced system for human-machine interactions using London pedestrians to train their algorithms.”
Industry Report Overview
The Top 10 Sectors by Number of Pitches:
1. Software
2. Property
3. Food & Beverage
4. Hospitality
5. Transportation
6. Fashion
7. Media
8. Agriculture
9. Technology
10. Manufacturing
The Top 10 Sectors for Investors:
1. Software
2. Food & Beverage
3. Property
4. Technology
5. Hospitality
6. Medical
7. Transportation
8. Business Services
9. Energy
10. Agriculture
For the Full Report…
We will be presenting the full report to investors at our next pitching event in London (date in March to be confirmed). For more information on specific parts of the data or to request a place at the event, please contact me on oliver@angelinvestmentnetwork.co.uk
This report was referenced in City.A.M on 30th January 2019
This report was also used in a piece on Angel News on 31st January 2019.
Real Business published a longer analysis of our report on 1st February 2019.