Business Angels: funding for disruptive and innovative compannies

Abstract

Business Angels appear when risk and doubt are at their highpoint helping and accompanying the entrepreneur until he strengthens his business project. They appear in the initial stages and they provide experience and contacts, as well as capital, so they make companies grow faster. Business Angels execute an essential role by reducing the equity gap which appears when new companies have exhausted their proximity funds being in a stage too premature to turn to banking financing within competitive ways or to venture capital funds. Angel investment is growing in Spain: in 2014, 28 millions of Euros were recorded as opposed to the 39.7 millions recorded in 2015. Although Business Angels invest in all sectors, they focus on technological companies with high chances of growth. These companies are called start-ups: innovative and disruptive companies which provide different hints to the traditional way of undertaking. The goal of this study is examining Business Angels. We will analyze their characteristics and their evolution during recent years within Europe and Spain.