Angel investors play a crucial role in supporting enterprise startups by providing initial funding to help them grow from a small idea to a successful company like Salesforce or Oracle. Despite their significant impact, angel investors often operate quietly behind the scenes and receive less attention compared to those who invest in consumer companies. With the assistance of Wing VC, an early-stage firm based in Palo Alto that specializes in enterprise startups, Business Insider has identified 60 of the top angel investors who support business-to-business startups.
To compile this list, Wing VC surveyed over 100 prominent venture capitalists and corporate development executives to pinpoint the top enterprise startups. After narrowing down the selection, Wing then focused on identifying the angels who were the earliest investors in these companies. Despite challenges related to incomplete data, Wing was able to gather information from various sources and directly reach out to individuals to ensure a comprehensive analysis.
One noteworthy finding from the research is that the top angel investors are actively involved in their full-time jobs running companies like Figma and Datadog. These investors are not retired individuals but rather leaders who are actively managing their businesses while also mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. It is crucial to recognize that the list of top companies is subjective, and Wing did not assess metrics such as the angels’ returns, investment amounts, or valuation. In the tech industry, early investments carry significant risk but also offer substantial rewards for those who take the chance.