Author:  Jeffrey Sohl
Publisher:  Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire
Date: October 11, 2011

The angel investor market in the first two quarters of 2011 showed signs of stabilization since the 30 percent market correction in the second half of 2008 and the first half of 2009, with total investments totaling $8.9 billion, an increase of 4.7 percent over the same period in 2010, according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire.

A total of 26,300 entrepreneurial ventures received angel funding during the first half of 2011, a 4.4 percent increase from the same period in 2010, and the number of active investors in Q1 and Q2 2011 was 124,900 individuals, virtually unchanged from Q1 and Q2 2010. The increase in total dollars and the matching increase in total investments resulted in an average deal size of $338,400 in the first half of 2011, comparable to the deal size in the same period in 2010 of $337,300.

“These data indicate that angels remain committed to this investment class and at slightly higher valuations than in 2010. While the market exhibited a stabilization from Q1 and Q2 2010, when compared to the market correction that occurred in 2008, these data indicate that the angel market appears to have reached its nadir in 2009 and has since demonstrated a slow recovery,” said Jeffrey Sohl, director of the UNH Center for Venture Research at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics.  Read more here.