iAngels of Israeli Start-ups
I’ll start with some Jewish mysticism.
The Hebrew word for angel is “malach,” which means messenger, for the angels are G‑d’s messengers to perform various missions. Every angel is “programmed” to perform certain tasks.
Another type of angels are those that are created through the deeds of man. In the words of our Sages: “He who fulfills one mitzvah, acquires for himself one angel-advocate; he who commits one transgression, acquires against himself one angel-accuser.” Angels-advocates are formed from the intellectual and emotional energy which one invests in the performance of a mitzvah.
Now back to realism, many Angels live among us these days, with especially high concentration in Silicon Valley and Silicon Wadi (Israeli Silicon Valley) communities. Of course, I’m talking about Angel Investors — individuals who provide capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. If you are involved in the tech world, you know Angels or you have become one yourself already. If you are removed from that world, Angel Investing may sound mysterious and unapproachable. I’m here to tell you that it’s not and there are easy ways to join this movement with confidence, and direct your money into Israeli start-ups, by joining crowdfunding platforms like iAngels, a favorite of mine. This kind of practical and patriotic act counts as good deed, or mitzvah, in my personal system of coordinates and makes one into an ultimate angel-advocate of Israel!
Let me mention a few reasons why joining iAngels is practical.
- Low barrier to entry: you do not need millions to become an investor. Have at least $50–100K to create a diversified portfolio and invest as low as $5–10–25K per individual start-up. Starting from $100K commitment, iAngels team will create and curate a portfolio of 10 startups for you. This Portfolio product offers carried interest on the entire portfolio rather than on a deal by deal basis.
- In only 1.5 years of existence, iAngels already have 2 Exits (companies that were bought), which means investors already received Return on Investment.
- 9 Portfolio companies already raised follow-on rounds of investments at higher valuations, and all others are doing very well and meeting or exceeding expectations.
- iAngels leading investors who will be paving the way for you are top notch recognized names in Israeli tech landscape. Curios fact for people familiar with Russian oligarchs, Roman Abramovich invested in iAngels earlier this year. Australian Alex Waislitz’s Thorney Investment Group just announced $15 million investment in a strategic alliance with iAngels.
- iAngels is a 1st crowdfunding platform to create liquidity for Employee Stock Options, which allows investors to invest in later stage start-ups, increasing the confidence in the future returns.
- iAngels just announced partnership with Silicon Valley NFX Guild, by-invitation-only accelerator fund founded by prominent American and Israeli partners, James Currier, Stan Chudnovsky, and Gigi Levy-Weiss. iAngels’ investment community members now have unique opportunity to participate by investing a minimum of $50,000 into Winter 2016 class of companies, handpicked and groomed by NFX Guild.
There are many more reasons that make me personally very interested in iAngels and excited to share them with my network. Ok, I will mention just one more. It was founded by two Israeli women — Shelly Hod Moyal and Mor Assia — who combined their tech and investment experiences from Israel and US to form a powerful and energetic force.
That is why I am partnering with iAngels on setting up Investor Meetings on January 26 and 27 in San Francisco and South Bay. The meetings are meant for people with available capital starting in $50–100K range (higher amounts are very welcomed and encouraged, of course) to hear about the platform, terms and portfolio first hand and consider investing in the high-tech start-up opportunities alongside top-tier angel investors in Israel.
It is also helpful to know if you meet U.S. SEC standards for angel investor accreditation, which on a high level expect angels to either earn $200K personal annual income ($300K for household) or have Net Worth of $1mln excluding primary residence. If you meet accredited investor requirements, iAngels can open to you their full portfolio, if you don’t — you can obtain a limited access to the portfolio.
Please contact me directly to discuss your interest in meeting iAngels in January when they will be “flying through” Bay Area.
