How to find Angel Investors: Top 30 UK Angel Networks [2022]

If you’re looking for investment for your startup, angel investors are a great starting point. Luckily, the UK has one of the largest angel investor pool globally.

In this article we’re looking specifically at UK angel networks: syndicates (groups) of angel investors that get together to invest in high-growth businesses.

We’ve compiled below a list of the top 30 angel investor networks in the UK. Let’s dive in!

What is an Angel Investor?

Also referred to as “angel”, an angel investor is a private individual who has the financial capacity to provide initial capital for a business or a startup. In return for their investment, angels get shares in the company in the form of equity or convertible debt.

Angel investors may sometimes provide a one-time investment to startup businesses in order for them to launch their company. Most often however, angel investors pledge continued financial support: they reinvest in further rounds as the startup scales up, until it makes a profit.

Make no mistake: angels rarely invest out of pure altruism, and their investment is never free money. Instead, angel investors look to generate a profit out of their investment.

Because angels often invest very early on (unlike VC funds – more on that below), they typically look for significant return on investment. A study actually looked at the returns of 3,097 investments by 538 angels worldwide. On average, their return was 2.5 times, meaning an impressive IRR of 27%.

When we think about Angels, we often only refer to high-net-worth individuals yet there are other types of angel investors. Actually there are 4 different types of angels: friends & family members, private individuals, groups of investors, and crowdfunding platforms. For more information on what they are and how they differ from each other, read our article here.

What is an Angel Network?

There are a number of ways to contact, and find angel investors in the UK. In addition to networking and websites like AngelList, FundingPost or Crunchbase, founders can reach out to angel networks as well. But what are they exactly?

An angel network is a fund that is owned and managed by a group of business angels.

Indeed, some angel investors work in groups. This partnership makes it easier to cover a larger geographical area or pull their resources to focus on one specific industry. They also form groups to invest more funding and resources to businesses than they can muster independently. 

What are the Top 30 UK Angel Networks?

We’ve compiled below a list of the 30 most active angel networks in the UK.