AngelList is a U.S. website for startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work at startups. Created in 2010, the platform has a mission to democratize the investment process and to help startups with their challenges in fundraising and talent. It started as an online introduction board for tech startups that needed seed funding. Since 2015, the site allows startups to raise money from angel investors free of charge.
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Foundation
AngelList
AngelList was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi. Using the traction from the Venture Hack blog on entrepreneur financing, Naval and Babak started a list of 25 investors with whom they would share interesting companies to invest in. They announced the list as "AngelList" in 2010, with the subscription of 50 investors.
Babak Nivi
Babak Nivi was previously an entrepreneur-in-residence at Bessemer Venture Partners and Atlas Venture. He has worked on multiple startups including Songbird, Grockit, and Kovio. Nivi studied computer science and electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT he was a graduate research assistant from 1996 till 2000 where he applied for and received 2 patents.
Nivi co-invented the first printed inorganic transistor and is an author of the science paper "All Inorganic Transistors Fabricated by Printing".
Naval Ravikant studied computer science and economics at Dartmouth. He later co-founded Epinions - a consumer review site, and Vast - a classified-ad marketplace. During his brief work with Benchmark Capital and August Capital, a complaint was filed regarding Epinions' financial affairs. This inspired him to start the "Venture Hack" blog in 2007 with Babak Nivi.
Maps AngelList
Mission & Operations
AngelList aims to democratize the investment process. Business Insider dubbed AngelList the "Match.com for investors and startups". In a recent interview, Naval Ravikant wants more "innovation on [the] infrastructure for innovation itself" by helping startups with money, talent, and customers.
AngelList's Syndicate facilitates startup financing with accredited investors. AngelList Jobs connect talents with startups. AngelList's acquisition of Product Hunt will allow more support for startups with customer generation and product launch. Naval also mentioned that Republic is a part of this mission by democratizing startup financing with non-accredited investors.
Syndicates
AngelList Syndicates allow startups to raise money from accredited investors investing alongside prominent angel investors.
Jobs
AngelList launched Jobs - its recruiting portal in 2012.
Accelerators
In late 2012, AngelList launched a portal for accelerators and incubators to accept and manage applications from startups to their programs. At opening, AngelList accepted applications for 500 Startups, TechStars Boston, and AngelPad. Other accelerators, like Rock Health, accept applications exclusively through AngelList.
Subsidiaries and Spin-offs
In July 2016, AngelList launched Republic - a spinoff addressing the democratization of startup equity crowdfunding with non-accredited investors.
In November 2016, AngelList acquired Product Hunt. Naval plans to build Product Hunt further in "helping companies find their early customers."
In October 2017, CoinList - initial coin offering services for startups and accredited investors - spun off from AngelList.
Involvement in the JOBS Act
Support of the JOBS Act
In mid-2012, Naval Ravikant and Kevin Laws were active in Washington in his support for the JOBS Act. He was in discussion with "Senate and Congressional staffers, Steve Case, and influential Congressmen that would listen." During the same period, he organized an online petition that attracted 5,000 signatures on a letter to Senate leaders in support of the Act. Later in 2013, Naval Ravikant wrote a letter to the SEC to object changes in the JOBS Act that he believed "could create disastrous unintended consequences for the startup community."
No-Action Letter from the SEC
In 2013, AngelList received a no-action letter from the SEC, allowing the operations of its Syndicates platform. FundersClub also received such a letter in the same period.
See also
- Comparison of crowd funding services
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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