As we reflect on 2024, the Angel Capital Association (ACA) stands proud of its unwavering commitment to advancing the art and science of angel investing. Through advocacy, education, and community building, ACA has solidified its role as the trusted voice for angel investors, empowering them to fuel innovation and drive economic growth. This year’s accomplishments were made possible by the dedication of our members, the innovative spirit of our entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the tireless efforts of our professional team and volunteers. Together, we expanded professional education, championed critical policy initiatives, and enhanced member experiences through new tools, resources, and platforms.
Angel investing isn’t just about funding startups—it’s about enabling bold ideas, fostering creativity, and strengthening our economy. Without the vision and commitment of angel investors, society’s ability to innovate would falter, and opportunities for transformative change would be lost.
Join us as we celebrate the highlights of 2024, showcase the impact of our initiatives, and share our ambitious goals for 2025. From strengthening public policy advocacy to growing educational opportunities and amplifying the voices of angel investors, we remain steadfast in our mission to create a thriving ecosystem that supports early-stage companies and the investors who fuel their success.
The best is yet to come, and we invite you to be part of this journey.
Highlights from the 2024 Angel Funders Report
The 2024 Angel Funders Report, offering a comprehensive analysis of angel investing trends across North America. This annual publication, based on data from over 60 angel groups, provides insights into investment activities and outcomes from 2023. The report identifies key trends and showcases innovative collaborations among ACA members that are driving the entrepreneurial ecosystem forward. John Harbison, Chair of the ACA Data Analytics Committee, emphasized the report’s role as a definitive benchmark for angel investing, aiding investors in making informed decisions. Pat Gouhin, CEO of ACA, highlighted the expanded dataset’s contribution to understanding emerging trends and reinforcing the accuracy of previous analyses, thereby empowering stakeholders to fuel innovation and economic growth.
What We’ve Accomplished and What’s to Come in 2025: Growth in Member Benefits, Syndication, Education & More
Membership & Engagement – the Cornerstone of the Angel Capital Association:
ACA Members are angel insiders and a part of the industry’s preferred providers of capital. Our members are able to stay on top of trending investment approaches, terms and exit strategies. Identify like-minded investors. ACA membership is available to individual angels, accredited platforms, angel group investors and family offices.
In 2024 we:
- Saw a successful ACA Summit with more angels, more sessions and fantastic reviews for valuable experiences among attendees.
- Onboarded hundreds of ACA community members to the ACA syndication initiative and www.angelcatalyst.com – the ACA syndication platform.
- Shared more than 100 companies across our ACA syndication initiative.
- Developed more tools for angel groups and grew our resource library with new webinars and content.
- Launched a new website to improve navigation, ease of access to tools and education and it includes a Member Portal for more control of member benefits and updates.
- Launched a new membership management system which greatly improves the member experience and provides more individual control of communications and community engagement.
Education:
In 2024, the ACA continued to deliver Angel University courses to aspiring angels and community ecosystem builders.
ACA Educational Highlights from 2024:
- 53 individuals earned the Basics of Angel Investing certificate.
- 22 individuals earned the Advanced Angel Investing certificate.
- Over 300 individuals took at least one Angel University course.
- The following groups/organizations sent several members to Angel University classes:
- Catalyst Angel Program, TN Tri-Star Angel Program, Erie Regional Chamber Insurtech Accelerator, University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley, SeaAhead/NEAQ, and the EC Center in Dayton.
- Face-to-Face Courses were held at the following locations: Charlotte, NC, Jackson, MS, Raliegh, NC, Buffalo, NY and Rochester, NY.
- As a result of funding received from the National Science Foundation, there has been the creation of the Deep Tech Tookit.
- A new course, Angel Group Formation, was created.
- A new instructional delivery method for Angel University, Angel University on Demand, was developed. This course delivery allows participants to complete Angel University courses in a self-paced, asynchronous learning environment. Go online to check out our courses!
This year marked a significant milestone for The Angel Next Door podcast, hosted by Marcia Dawood as the show marked 100 episodes! With a full year of weekly episodes, we celebrated key achievements, impactful conversations, and global recognition for our contributions to angel investing and impact-driven funding.
Go here to read the recap of an incredible year for the podcast!
Angel Investor Foundation:
- In 2024, the Angel Investor Foundation successfully concluded the Seed the Future capital campaign having procured $1,539,749 in donations for ACA’s education and research programs including Ann & Bill Payne ACA Angel University, and the annual Angel Funders Report. We are tremendously grateful to all who participated in our fundraising efforts. To learn more about how these funds are making an impact, please read the Seed the Future Report.
- An annual scholarship was created and awarded in honor of Bill Payne, the “Grandfather of Angel Investing.” The scholarship will cover all ten Ann & Bill Payne ACA Angel University courses, allowing one recipient each year to earn the advanced angel investing certificate.
- The AIF Team spent the last year executing on a six-figure grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to better understand investment trends and to gauge interest surrounding the area of Deep Tech. From this research, the Deep Tech Toolkit was created to explain the sector, and to help angels evaluate these unique startups and build out their portfolios. Throughout the year, thanks to NSF funding, AIF hosted 7 webinars pertaining to Deep Tech studies.
Public Policy:
ACA believes in the impact and benefits of angel investing to entrepreneurs, job growth and the economy. Deeply active on the federal legislative and regulatory fronts, ACA helps safeguard and galvanize the rights of American angel investors so that we can protect the foundation that fuels the startup economy. ACA represents our members, but we invite investors to lend their efforts – a combined voice matters.
2024 Highlights in Public Policy:
- Distribution of a quarterly newsletter, recapping and highlighting the current hot topics and ways that ACA has supported and protected angels on the hill.
- In 2024, the ACA Public Policy Committee went on the offensive to enhance the 1202 qualified small business stock gain exclusion setting the stage for positive outcomes in the 119th Congress in 2025.
- Similarly, we fought off threats to raise the financial thresholds on the accredited investor definition and continued to advocate for new on-ramps that would provide a more inclusive path to accreditation.
- Active engagement:
- ACA had a front row seat with active participation on the Security and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee where former ACA chair, Marcia Dawood participated in quarterly meetings in February, April, May, July, and November. On multiple occasions additional face to face meetings with elected officials and senior staffers were set up to educate and advocate on the most pressing issues affecting investors, entrepreneurs, and the startup ecosystem. The Public Policy Committee also conducted many virtual meetings throughout the year.
- In January, we joined a coalition letter to restore the provisions of Section 174 of the Internal Revenue Code relating to the first-year expensing of research and development (R&D) investment by American businesses.
- In March, we sent an Innovation Community Letter to Senator Joni Ernst Regarding Tax Relief Bill
- In September, we supported The Empowering Main Street in America Act(EMSAA) which provides a strong foundation to expand access to capital for entrepreneurs in emerging ecosystems, increase investment and ownership opportunities for more people, and improve the regulatory process to ensure policy encourages responsible innovation.
- In October, we submitted comments to modernize the tax code to bolster innovation and broaden economic opportunity, while increasing U.S. growth and competitiveness.
Throughout the year we ramped up an innovation coalition with our advocacy friends that will culminate with the launch of a new partner website in Q1 of 2025. This coalition website will feature one pagers on topics of critical importance to the community including enhancing Section 1202, restoring the provisions of Section 174, Modernizing the tax treatment of NOLs with Sections 382 and 383, Expanding the ownership economy by aligning tax to time of sale, and maintaining treatment to incentivize investment with carried interest. Look for more on ACA’s role in this alliance on innovation in 2025!
Partnerships:
Partnerships are critical to the ACA – not only in terms of revenue that supports our work, but also in connecting the right organizations who can support our angel investors.
In 2024 we:
- Met and exceeded our goals with a total raise of $405,000 and $52,750 deferred to FY24, marking ACA’s most successful partnership year in its history.
- Raised partnership’s average transactional value to $17,625.
- Seven ACA yearlong partners at or above $20,000 annually.
Growing the Voice of Angel Investors:
In 2024, we grew the readership of ACA publications by more than 14.6% – meaning a growth of 34% over the past two years. This means that more potential angel investors have access to the smart practices and knowledge to join in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and that more angels have the tools to create bigger outcomes and recruit to their established groups.
Ways You Can Stay In-the-Know in 2025:
- Subscribe to the ACA LinkedIn Newsletter
- Get involved! Our work is driven by dedicated volunteers across many areas of our work including instructors for Angel University, the Education Committee, Public Policy Committee, Marketing & Membership, Data Analytics, the Angel Investor Foundation & more!
- Attend the Angel Capital Association Summit in Denver, Colorado. Led by Rockies Venture Club’s Kevin Kudra, this event is a not-to-miss gathering of angel investors, startups and experts is where you can learn, expand your network, develop relationships that could lead to syndication and so much more!
2025 Promises to be an Incredible Year: Get Involved
We want to encourage many of the millions of potential angels to join us. If you are deploying capital to grow early stage companies, you are part of this critical ecosystem and we invite you to engage with us. Help us create a powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors and community resources so that we can continue to support economic growth. Angel investing is a team sport and ACA welcomes you to join us as we strive to make angel investing more accessible and successful for all.
The ACA Summit in 2025 is elevating to the Mile High City – where all things are possible! Join us for three days of quality content, interactive discussions and vibrant networking to elevate your angel investing experience. Whether you are a new or experienced investor, angel group leader or part of the broader community supporting entrepreneurs and early-stage investments, you’ll learn the latest on trending topics and meet new people, all to help improve your outcomes.
More than ever, we need innovation. We need risk-takers and difference-makers. We need angels.
We need you! Take advantage of ACA’s many opportunities to get involved. Thank you to our growing membership of active investors for actively creating a more innovative world. We can’t wait to increase our support for your growth and investing. For those new to ACA, join the organization and take advantage of valuable member benefits or register for an upcoming event or course. We can’t wait to meet you and connect you to our incredible network of angels, investing ecosystem players and early-stage companies.
Sending my best wishes for a successful 2025 to come!
Patrick Gouhin, CAE
Chief Executive Officer, Angel Capital Association
