Platforms like AngelList help angel investors find startups to fund

Angel investors often receive significant equity because of the risk they take

Angel investors fund startups at an early stage, at which time a company’s success is less assured. In exchange, they often ask for a significant equity stake.

Angel investors typically fund a startup at an earlier stage than venture capitalists

Angel investors and venture capitalists both invest in startups, but they differ in a few key ways. Angel investors typically invest earlier and in a smaller amount.

Angel investors funded startups with nearly $28B in 2024

Statistics about the angel investing market show that billions are spent funding early-stage startups each year. Companies with more angel interest had higher success rates.

Angels invest in a mix of startups from different industries

To diversify their portfolios and mitigate their risk, angels may invest in startups that are at earlier or later stages of development, as well as in various industries.

More than $3.5B has been invested through AngelList

AngelList was created to connect startups and angel investors. It’s evolved since its 2010 founding and has been used by companies like Uber and OpenSea.

Angel investors often come together as a syndicate

Startups raise money in different rounds from investors that include their friends and family, angels, and venture capital funds. These types of investors serve different purposes.

The term ‘angel investor’ is thought to have originated with Broadway plays

The first so-called angel investors funded theatrical productions. Now, angels invest in startups at an early stage, hoping their investment will pay off in the future.

Early-stage investors say ‘no’ to the vast majority of funding pitches

Angel investor Alicia Syrett details the top reasons investors turn down entrepreneurs. For example, the entrepreneur didn’t do their homework by, for instance, not researching the investor.

Startup accelerators offer mentorship and seed funding in exchange for equity

Those programs, such as Y Combinator and Techstars, not only offer expert advice to founders, but also seed funding in exchange for equity. The goal is to help young startups learn from successful companies, making it more likely they attract venture capital.

Seed funding is often the first round of capital that a startup raises

Early-stage startups often try to secure seed funding from investors in order to take their idea from concept to reality.

A successful angel investor can multiply their investment by 3 to 10 times

Angel investor Naval Ravikant explains what it takes to be successful in his field, from building an authentic brand to developing the judgment to choose which startups to back.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

80% of a VC firm's returns come from 20% of the deals, per VC's 'power law'

Early-stage startups are highly risky investments. Many companies in a VC portfolio will not provide any significant return.

7 angel investors funded Google in its early days

Entrepreneur Shaan Puri shares how seven strangers acted as Google’s earliest angel investors. The first gave Google $100K without even putting his equity agreement in writing. The investors on “Shark Tank” use their personal funds to support startups, but they’re often more predatory about terms than typical angels.

Nonprofit VC funds invest in startups, but have donors instead of LPs

Examples include Andreessen Horowitz’s TxO (Talent x Opportunity) Initiative and Fifth Star Funds, which allows donors to write “Friends & Family” checks for Black tech founders.

Convertible notes represent loans that startups owe investors

In the second part of a two-part series, convertible notes are explained to be a tool angel investors use to ensure they see a return on their investment in a startup.

How venture capital firms came to be

The venture capital firm that kickstarted an industry.

Retail investors are getting burned by long/short strategies

In the US, many retail investors lack the SEC-mandated status (a high enough net worth, income, and other factors) to directly invest in hedge funds. The regulator considers hedge funds too risky for the masses. Hedge fund-like strategies have emerged as a workaround, despite potential pitfalls.

Investing in private equity is typically reserved for 'accredited investors'

Limiting PE to accredited investors helps protect less experienced investors from large and risky investments. Accredited investors must meet requirements set by the Securities and Exchange Commission—they're typically required to have a net worth exceeding $1M, for instance. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

SPACs, explained

Special purpose acquisition companies make it easy for mature unicorns (companies valued at over $1B) to receive growth capital by going public. This process effectively skips the work of a traditional initial public offering, and its time-intensive investor negotiations. Typically, a well-known investor with expertise in a certain industry sponsors a SPAC with the intent to acquire a startup. Learn how it works and the risks involved here.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

SAFE is a financial tool that stands for ‘simple agreement for future equity’

In the first part of a two-part series, SAFEs are explained as a way angel investors safeguard their investment in a startup. These agreements outline equity expectations.

The infrastructure, talent, and markets of Silicon Valley make the high-tech region ideal for startups

The number of startup employees, founders, and investors who have flocked to Silicon Valley over the years makes the California region ideal for networking in the tech space. Plus, California’s laws and specific rules around trade secrets help founders of fledgling businesses in Silicon Valley feel protected.

Explore an alternative investments timeline

From what’s known as the first leveraged buyout, when JPMorgan acquired the Carnegie Steel Company, to the creation of the first-ever hedge fund, alternative investments have a long history.

A barbell investment strategy focuses on balancing high-risk and low-risk investments

Barbell investment strategies emphasize bypassing medium-risk investments in favor of combinations of high-risk and low-risk investments. The idea is that the stability on the low-risk side offsets the volatility on the high-risk side, and would look like a barbell with two large weights on either end of the bar.

Meet the investor running his life with AI

Daniel Ha is a venture capitalist who built a suite of AI agents to boost his productivity, both professionally and personally. At his VC firm, a troupe of agents gathers data on startups and analyzes it from competing perspectives to produce a confidence score. When his dad was diagnosed with cancer, Ha used an oncology-trained AI to help him understand the condition.

The matchmakers serving the elite of Silicon Valley

If members of the wealthy elite want to find romance, they often choose expensive match-making services rather than dating apps. These services can cost $150,000 for each match, and providers are experts in dealing with the unique social dynamics caused by being wealthy and the unusual egos such wealth can bring. This article explores this hidden cultural phenomenon.

Learn how to read a prospectus, the juicy document that any company must file with the SEC before going public.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

US housing costs have risen by roughly 175% between 1991 and 2026—but a growing number of Gen Zers are becoming homeowners anyway. In 2025, 4% of homebuyers were Gen Z, up from 3% the year before.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Explore the known asteroids, comets, and spacecraft involved in asteroid studies within our solar system with 'Eyes on Asteroids,' a 3D visualization from NASA.

Dirty lightning is a thunderstorm created from friction between rising and falling flows of ash and smoke during volcanic eruptions.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography