Angel Investors Slowdown in Response To Economic Uncertainty

Singapore, 8 September 2023 -- AngelCentral, a popular network of angel investors has just released its second annual Angel Investor Behavioural Survey Report for 2023. This year's report surveyed 99 ASEAN based angel investors on an array of questions related to their startup investments. The goal is to understand better how angel investing develops in our region as an asset class and how ASEAN angels make their investment decisions.

Funding winter has hit home with 31% of angel investors halting or slowing down investments

A sizable 31% of respondents have decided to exit this asset class completely (6%) or to pause their angel investing activity (25%) until there is more clarity in startup investment outcome. appears. Furthermore, even among those continuing to invest, 34% indicated that they have reduced their budget for investments. Only 9% said they are increasing their budget for startup investments.

"We conducted this survey in 2Q 2023, this is after dismal returns in the public markets back in 2022 where many growth stocks suffered a massive 50-90% valuation drop in response to rising interest rates and inflation. When the cost of money is at 5+%, investors will pull back on risky assets. As such, it is quite expected that even at early stage angel investing, we are seeing a sizable drop in demand. ", shared Huang Shao-Ning, Chief Angel at AngelCentral.

"However, it is gratifying to see that the majority of angels are still investing with discipline through this downturn to build their angel investing portfolio and that some are even increasing their budget. It will very likely be a good move for savvy angel investors to take advantage of lower valuations and less competition to fund some good startups over the next 1-2 years."

Rise of Angel Syndicates as the preferred way to invest

57% of respondents say they have invested in angel syndicates. Syndicates happen when angels pool their funds together into one entity and that entity invests in the startup.

"Syndication has frequently been called the greatest new tool for angels. This is primarily because it allows angels to invest in smaller bite sizes and to tap on fellow angel's strengths and knowhow. Furthermore, syndicates, by virtue of pooled size, also have better bargaining power with the startups." Huang added.

Who is the typical ASEAN angel investor?

The average ASEAN angel has less than 5 years experience in the space and has invested in less than 10 startups.S/He invests mainly out of the personal net worth rather than income. S/He invests mostly within the region and has an initial cheque size per startup that is between USD$5K to USD$20K. The main motivation for investing is to learn and interact with founders and of course to get good returns.

Where can i download the report?

You can download the Angel Investor Behavioural Survey Report for 2023 here.

About AngelCentral
Founded in 2018, AngelCentral’s goal is to help build effective angels in the ASEAN region. We offer our angel members pitch days, angel learning and syndication services to help them invest better and develop as good angel investors. To date, we have trained and assisted >1000 angels regionally.
https://angelcentral.co

Media Contact

Huang Shao-Ning
Chief Angel and Partner
E: shaoning@angelcentral.co