Analysis

August 31, 2023

Europe’s active angel networks

Looking for early-stage funding? These angel groups could be a good place to start


Sadia Nowshin

6 min read

Image: Midjourney / Lexie Yu

Angel investing doesn’t have to be a lonely sport. 

More and more solo investors are forming angel networks: groups that give their members access to more deals and the ability to write bigger cheques as a collective. Some of these groups are syndicates where angels can pool cheques on a deal-by-deal basis, whereas others take angel cash to set up official funds, which investors can then have a say in.

Some of the most sophisticated networks often also have in-house employees to take over the “boring” bits of admin — like due diligence or sifting through the sea of startups to find potential gems — leaving angels more time to give portfolio founders advice and intros. 

But which of these groups have been signing cheques recently? Here are Europe’s active angel networks — data is taken from Dealroom, unless the fund confirmed the numbers themselves. Think we're missing a group? Let us know. 

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Ventures Together

HQ: Remote
Deal count over the last 12 months: around100
Founding year: 2021

Ventures Together invests in pre-seed and seed stage rounds across sectors and geographies across Europe. It has more than 150 members who decide whether to invest on a deal-by-deal basis. Angels have to commit a threshold of around £20k for the investment to be approved.

SFC Capital

HQ: London, UK
Deal count over the last 12 months: 62
Founded: 2012

SFC Capital is a SEIS and EIS fund — a scheme by the UK government which aims to incentivise people to support early-stage British companies by offering income tax relief (50% on SEIS up to £200k and 30% on EIS up to £1m a year) on investments. It was an early backer of companies like identity verification service Onfido and B2B sales acceleration software Cognism.

In the last 12 months, it has supported startups including computer vision-powered home gym company Magic and alt meat producer Adamo Foods. 

Super Capital

HQ: Paris, France
Deal count over the last 12 months: 60
Founded: 2018 

France-based Super Capital boasts over 100 members, including entrepreneurs, angel investors and startup consultants to support portfolio companies. It typically invests between €25k to €100k per cheque, and has recently backed carbon data company Connect Earth and mobile phone contract provider mobile.club.

Cambridge Angels

HQ: Cambridge, UK
Deal count in 2022: 58
Founded: 2001  

Cambridge Angels boasts over 60 UK members, many of whom are successful entrepreneurs — it usually invests between £150k to £1.5m in early-stage companies and has recently added longevity company Five Alarm Bio and wastewater treatment startup Molymem.

FiBAN 

HQ: Helsinki, Finland
Deal count over the last 12 months: 40 in Finland and 10 cross-border investments
Founded: 2010

Finnish Business Angels Network invests in seed-stage startups, and its network is made up of angel investors across the Nordics and Baltics. New additions to the portfolio from the past 12 months include smoothie startup Smooth it, automated pizza-making machine Fizza and commerce transport service Kuormat.com.

Lithuanian Business Angels Network

HQ: Vilnius, Lithuania
Deal count over the last 12 months: 25
Founded: 2017

An early-stage investor in mostly Lithuanian companies, Lithuanian Business Angels Network (LitBAN) is made up of both angel investors and some corporate members, like VCs Practica Capital and Baltic Sandbox. It’s invested in companies such as event management marketplace Breezit and alternative hiring platform NO-CV. 

Green Angel Ventures

HQ: London, UK
Deal count between July 2022 and June 2023: 21
Founded: 2013

Green Angel Ventures is an angel syndicate focusing on climate tech startups. It launched its EIS/SEIS Climate Change fund in 2020 — this fund lets angel investors take a back seat and invest money without taking part in the selection of startups or due diligence process. In the last 12 months, it has backed startups including construction management platform Qualis Flow and water filtration company Molymem. 

Paris Business Angels

HQ : Paris, France
Deal count over the last 12 months : 20
Founded: 2004

With over 200 members, Paris Business Angels invests in the early stages of startups across France, and is sector-agnostic. Recent investments include brain injury diagnosis tools startup Braintale and biodigital data storage company Biomemory.

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Graduate Entrepreneur

HQ: Delft, the Netherlands
Deal count over the last 12 months: 12
Founded: 2021

Graduate Entrepreneur backs graduate founders based in Delft and Rotterdam. Cheques range from up to €75k at pre-seed to between €200k and €2m at seed and Series A. At pre-seed, it focuses on founders that are fresh from uni (graduated less than five years ago from TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Erasmus MC), and in later stages, backs alumni of any age. 

Over the past year, it’s backed companies including ROCSYS, which automates electric vehicle charging sites, and superconducting quantum processor producer QuantWare. 

DEPO Ventures

HQ: Prague, Czech Republic
Deal count over the last 12 months: 12
Founded: 2016

DEPO Ventures has over 200 angels involved and has managed angel funds as well as a syndicate of individual investors. Its angel funds focus on tech startups at pre-seed and seed stage, based across central and Eastern Europe, whereas its angel community looks at international investments. Recent companies backed include meal-kit provider Yummy, and Tapline, which offers SaaS startups an alternative financing option. 

Club degli Investitori

HQ: Turin, Italy
Deal count over the last 12 months, according to Dealroom: 10
Founded: 2008

Club degli Investitori focuses on startups based in Italy and has around 350 angels investing in the network. It’s sector-agnostic and leans on the specific expertise of members when deciding deals — the selected companies are then displayed on an “Investor Day”, where members can express interest in investing. It typically contributes between €100k and €2.5m across seed and growth-stage companies.

BADideas.fund

HQ: Riga, Latvia
Deal count over the last 12 months: 9
Founded: 2022

An angel investor syndicate that focuses on startups in central and eastern Europe, BADideas.fund invests between €50k and €100k in companies that have a minimum viable product. It often offers a startup’s first cheque, and allows investors to contribute as little as €1k per deal. Angels can also become scouts for the syndicate. It’s recently invested in space risk-assessment platform Value.Space and FINFRA, which helps businesses embed financial services into their products. 

LatBan 

HQ: Riga, Latvia
Deal count over the last 12 months: 8
Founded: 2014

Latvia’s business angel network has more than 44 angel investors involved, and since founding nine years ago has made around 200 investments. 

WIT Angels Club

HQ: Paris, France
Deal count over the last 12 months: 7 investments since founding in December 2022
Founded: 2022

WIT Angels Club is an all-women investment team that backs impact startups (co-)created by women. It has recently backed startups like robot production company Adapta Robotics and flexible workspace booking platform Pluria.

COREangels

HQ: Ílhavo, Portugal
Deal count over the last 12 months, according to Dealroom: 6
Founded: 2019

The angel investors in COREangels all vote on investment decisions, plus offer mentorship to those founders they back. Due diligence processes and reporting are done by fund leaders who manage the network. 

There are currently 11 angel funds operating within the network, varying by geographical focus or industry experience. Recent investments include the platform for car resellers Motoreto and guest engagement platform Hotel Manager. 

Italian Angels for Growth

HQ: Milan, Italy
Deal count over the last 12 months, according to Dealroom: 6
Founded: 2007

Italian Angels for Growth (IAG) consists of over 300 business angels who typically invest in the early stages of life science, deeptech, digital and fintech startups. Cheques range from €200k to €1.5m, and the group has so far backed over 110 companies. 

Recent additions to the portfolio include pharmacy platform 1000Farmacie and non-dilutive capital provider Viceversa. 

Angels Capital

HQ: Valencia, Spain
Deal count over the last 12 months, according to Dealroom: 6
Founded: 2013

Angels Capital invests mostly at seed stage and has completed almost 40 investments based in Spain since launching, with a handful across other global locations. It’s sector-agnostic, and recent additions to the portfolio include VIP event management platform Fourvenues and business expenses app Okticket.

This article was last updated on September 13 2023. 

Sadia Nowshin

Sadia Nowshin is a reporter at Sifted covering foodtech, biotech and startup life. Follow her on X and LinkedIn