Band of Angels (Investors)
Encyclopedia
The Band of Angels is the oldest and most active angel investment group in the United States, with more than 120 members who provide counsel and capital to high tech startup companies. Band members have founded companies such as Cirrus Logic
, Symantec
, SunPower
, National Semiconductor
and Logitech
, and have been senior executive officers at top Silicon Valley
companies including Sun Microsystems
, Hewlett Packard, Intel, 3Com
and Intuit. Numerous articles have been written about the Band, appearing in periodicals such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Upside, Red Herring, Der Spiegel
, U.S. News and World Report, and Forbes
. The Band has also been featured in two Harvard Business School
Case studies.
Band members invest in deals directly; there is no pooling of resources or voting. Since 1994, Band members have invested over $186 million into over 200 startup companies. Nine deals that presented to the Band as seed investments became public companies; these alone returned $160M in cash to Band members and 47 other companies in the Band's portfolio have been acquired for a gain, including two in 2009 to date. Assuming an exit at lock-up expiration, this corresponds to a 53% annualized internal rate of return
(IRR).
The Band of Angels is active, investing in 6 to 12 deals per year as well as another 10-15 follow-on investments. It consistently ranks among the top 10 most active VCs in the annual listing of the top 100 by Entrepreneur Magazine
. The Band specializes in diverse, early-stage venture investing. The portfolio is distributed among biotech, semiconductor, networking, telecom, medical device, enterprise software, Internet, high-tech services, and even industrial, companies. Every investment receives active post-deal participation from a Band member, including joining the board of directors where possible.
Securing funding from the Band is competitive. Approximately 50 deals submit each month for funding from the group. Every deal that submits is reviewed and analyzed by 6 domain experts; the top ten companies that apply each month are invited in to an in person interview and the best three from this group are then invited to present at the next available Band dinner. Typically, the odds of being funded after presenting to the Band is 1/3.
The Band was founded by J. C. Hans Severiens. Sensing that the growth of VC firms had created a vacuum at the seed financing stage, the group held their first organizational meeting late in 1994. The organizers drew up a list of about 25 senior executives, invited them to a dinner and 12 showed up. The Band came to call this group the twelve apostles, in keeping with their angel orientation. Today the Band is managed by small team of full time employees and the volunteer contributions of a substantial plurality of Band members. Ian Sobieski has taken over the role of coordinator from his long time business partner Hans.
In 2004 The Angel Capital Association
established the Hans Severiens Award to recognize one person each year for outstanding accomplishments in the advancement of angel investing.
Business Address: Band of Angels, 535 Middlefield Road Suite 190, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Cirrus Logic
Cirrus Logic is a fabless semiconductor supplier specializing in analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP integrated circuits . They are presently headquartered in Austin, Texas. Their audio processors and audio converters are found in many professional audio and consumer entertainment products,...
, Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
, SunPower
SunPower
SunPower Corporation designs and manufactures high-efficiency crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, roof tiles and solar panels based on a silicon all-back-contact solar cell invented at Stanford University. SunPower Corporation is publicly traded on the NASDAQ as SPWRA and SPWRB...
, National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,...
and Logitech
Logitech
Logitech International S.A. is a global provider of personal peripherals for computers and other digital platforms headquartered in Romanel-sur-Morges, Switzerland. The company develops and markets products like peripheral devices for PCs, including keyboards, mice, microphones, game controllers...
, and have been senior executive officers at top Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
companies including Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, Hewlett Packard, Intel, 3Com
3Com
3Com was a pioneering digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network infrastructure products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney, Bruce Borden, and Greg Shaw...
and Intuit. Numerous articles have been written about the Band, appearing in periodicals such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Upside, Red Herring, Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
, U.S. News and World Report, and Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
. The Band has also been featured in two Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
Case studies.
Band members invest in deals directly; there is no pooling of resources or voting. Since 1994, Band members have invested over $186 million into over 200 startup companies. Nine deals that presented to the Band as seed investments became public companies; these alone returned $160M in cash to Band members and 47 other companies in the Band's portfolio have been acquired for a gain, including two in 2009 to date. Assuming an exit at lock-up expiration, this corresponds to a 53% annualized internal rate of return
Internal rate of return
The internal rate of return is a rate of return used in capital budgeting to measure and compare the profitability of investments. It is also called the discounted cash flow rate of return or the rate of return . In the context of savings and loans the IRR is also called the effective interest rate...
(IRR).
The Band of Angels is active, investing in 6 to 12 deals per year as well as another 10-15 follow-on investments. It consistently ranks among the top 10 most active VCs in the annual listing of the top 100 by Entrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur Magazine
Entrepreneur is a publication that carries news stories about entrepreneurialism, small business management, and business opportunities. It is published by Entrepreneur Media Inc., headquartered in Irvine, California....
. The Band specializes in diverse, early-stage venture investing. The portfolio is distributed among biotech, semiconductor, networking, telecom, medical device, enterprise software, Internet, high-tech services, and even industrial, companies. Every investment receives active post-deal participation from a Band member, including joining the board of directors where possible.
Securing funding from the Band is competitive. Approximately 50 deals submit each month for funding from the group. Every deal that submits is reviewed and analyzed by 6 domain experts; the top ten companies that apply each month are invited in to an in person interview and the best three from this group are then invited to present at the next available Band dinner. Typically, the odds of being funded after presenting to the Band is 1/3.
The Band was founded by J. C. Hans Severiens. Sensing that the growth of VC firms had created a vacuum at the seed financing stage, the group held their first organizational meeting late in 1994. The organizers drew up a list of about 25 senior executives, invited them to a dinner and 12 showed up. The Band came to call this group the twelve apostles, in keeping with their angel orientation. Today the Band is managed by small team of full time employees and the volunteer contributions of a substantial plurality of Band members. Ian Sobieski has taken over the role of coordinator from his long time business partner Hans.
In 2004 The Angel Capital Association
Angel Capital Association
Angel Capital Association is the official industry alliance of over 100 of the largest angel investor groups in the United States. Since its founding in 2004, it has played a significant role in bringing together the previously separate angel and venture capital industries, in order to make...
established the Hans Severiens Award to recognize one person each year for outstanding accomplishments in the advancement of angel investing.
Business Address: Band of Angels, 535 Middlefield Road Suite 190, Menlo Park, CA 94025
External links
- Band of Angels Website
- New York Times Article
- Washington Post Article
- U.S. News and World Report Article
- Forbes Article
- Clavier Blog Article
- Entrepreneur Magazine Top 100 VC Firms Article
- Der Spiegel Article
- Red Herring Website
- Harvard Business Case Studies
- Hans Severiens Award Application at American Capital Association
- PR-inside Article