AngelCentral is a community of angels that started off as an informal group back in 2017. In 2018, we formalized into a company in order to be more systematic and deliberate in what we do for angels.
Our vision is to build a community of high-quality angel investors in Singapore and ASEAN, with angel members who don’t just do well as angel investors but also do the right thing for startups and founders. At the same time, we also recognize our ecosystem is relatively young and so focus a lot on peer-to-peer learning among angel investors in addition to providing lots of deal flow and syndication services.
As of end 2022, we have over 100 angel members and reviewed almost 800 startups annually. Cumulatively, our club has funded close to S$30M since inception of which more than 60% are syndicated via our syndication services. We have also run over 100 workshops on topics like Angel Investing Masterclasses, Legal Masterclasses, Due Diligence Masterclasses and deep dives into various startup sectors. In total, we have trained over 1000 angel investors in the ASEAN region.
A true test of whether AngelCentral is effective can be seen not just in our membership base and strong funding numbers, but also in the returns which our angels get when they participate in AngelCentral syndicates. From 2018 to 2021, we helped angels create a total of 23 syndicates funding about $15M into 23 different startups regionally. These 23 startups included startups from Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. This is testimony to our regional reach for dealflow.
AC Syndicate Qualitiative Analysis
AngelCentral analyzed all 23 startups that we helped our Angels create syndicates for. Syndicated deals have deeper curation as it’s a group effort by multiple angels who want to invest in a startup. Frequently, there is also a lead angel organizing.
Some terms used :
- “Upround” is counted so long as there is new money raised at higher valuation; Can be any instrument but the raise must be of minimum USD$100K or more;
- “Doing well” is counted if the startup has grown annual revenue to above USD1M but has no fund raising activity;
- “Downround” is counted if the startup raised more money on a down round
- “Closed Down” is counted if the startup is inactive or on verge of closing down.
Some assumptions made :
- Same amount invested per syndicate
- Invest in all 23 syndicates since June 2018 to 4Q 2021
- Upround is based on new financing valuation or exceptional (>3X) revenue growth
- Data source is startup management reports and actual funding rounds
We are happy to report that if an angel participated in every syndicated deal, the performance is pretty good. Take a look at the tables below.
| Status | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Upround/Rev >3X | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Ongoing | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Downround | 0 | |||
| Closed/Failed | 1 | |||
| Startups Invested | Nimbus, Neuron | ParcelPerform, Auk Industries | RARA, PropScout |
Simtrum, Fonos, Motorist
|
| Data as of end 4Q2022 | TVPI |
| AngelCentral Syndicates | 1.99 |
| Syndicates IRR | 26.06% |
| 2018 Vintage Global VC (median) | 1.88 |
Nb: Global VC performance numbers are from Pitchbook.
Comparing against global VCs, our syndicates as a whole have generated returns that is above the global median. This is a good endorsement of the quality of our dealflow and angels who are basically picking startups better than the average VC. Unfortunately, there is no data on ASEAN seed VCs that will allow us to compare against our direct VC peers. But looking at the numbers by themselves, a TVPI of almost 2 with an IRR above 25% is good returns for a 4 year old fund by any measure. It will be interesting to continue tracking this in the years ahead as the startups mature even more.
In summary, AngelCentral provides regional angels with lots of deal flow, learning and also syndication. While we measure our impact by the 500+ angels touched and the $30M funded into startups, we also want to know if our angels are getting good returns. We are happy to report that based on the AC Syndicate returns analysis above, the data shows that our club’s curation is working and is of good quality at AngelCentral. We believe that as our community grows and we help each other find and evaluate startups better, the curation and so returns will only get better with time. So, if you are keen to learn more about angel investing and want to join a group of really passionate and sincere angel investors, do find out more about AngelCentral membership.
