Angel Funding is on the Rise

Angel funding is on the rise; investing $25.6 billion in 2006, (a 10.8% increase over 2005), according to a report released by the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research. This is also more that all VCs invested in 2006, $25.5 billion, according to the MoneyTree survey. At the same time, some 60 percent of the members of angel groups are "latent investors" who haven't put their money to work in the past 12 months, suggesting the potential for even higher levels of angel investing in coming years.
The average deal size for angel investments climbed 7.5 percent to about $500,000. That compares to between $7 million and $8 million for the average venture capital investment.
Though angel investing is on the rise, it is shifting toward later-stage deals that parallels the shift in the venture capital industry. Forty-five to 55 percent of angel deals are seed or start-up investments today, down from 80 percent in the 1990s.
This trend is compounding the difficulty faced by many small entrepreneurs seeking to raise the initial money enabling them to grow their businesses to the stage where they can attract larger sums from venture capitalists.