Leaders of legendary investment club the Sydney Angels reveal what they look for in startups

Funding a startup can be tricky. Bootstrapping is an option but sometimes being able to fully develop an idea and getting a functioning product to customers means having to find financial backers.

The Sydney Angels is one of Australia’s best-known venture funds. In the decade since its formation, the venture capital space has developed rapidly across the country and there is a much broader range of relatively new but large funds such as AirTree Ventures and Square Peg Capital with tens of millions to invest.

But for seed funding the Sydney Angels — a collective of Angel investors that also runs a $10 million “sidecar” fund that pools members’ money and co-invests alongside individual investors from the group — will often be top of any entrepreneur’s list of potential sources of financial support.

Funding is usually in the order of around $200,000 to $500,000 per start-up per round, typically to companies that are pre-revenue.

To win over the investors, startups need a water-tight business plan, and they must have their financials in order, and stand out from other startups vying for the money. Read more

Sarah Kimmorley - Business Insider Australia - 5 Oct 2018