Angel investors are individuals who manage their assets by focusing on other projects. These people are involved at all stages of corporate life, they are particularly active in the starting phases. They include two categories of people: professionals and amateurs
The first category is those whose wealth comes from high technology. They have already successfully created one or more companies and want to continue to invest in this sector. Thus, Denis Payre, a founder of Business Objects has left the company in November 1996 and devotes part of its assets to investment in high technology companies. Individual investors from the corporate world can contribute their expertise and experience in project development of high-technology.
Many of the new economy millionaires reinvest some of their fortune in start up. Their motivation is to help young people like them could be helped. But they are professionals and their selection criteria approach those of capital investors. The magazine holds income in each column on a number of business angels and presents a variety of profiles.
Angels fans gather very different profiles: executives, professionals, employees, servants, pensioners … They are recruited from all segments of the population. A contractor, quoted by The Revenue says he received a call from a taxi driver willing to invest 50,000 francs in the project. As M Jourdain spoke prose without knowing it, many people do not have an active, but become angel when asked. According to various sources, there would be in France, 60,000 angels able to invest CHF 100 000 in start up. Thanks to the enthusiasm for new technologies, this number will increase. In the U.S., business angels invest about 2 times more than institutional investors.
The angel amateur favors companies closest to him, he made an average investment per year. It does not necessarily know the world of high technology, but he is willing to invest if the project appears to him attractive. The difficulty for the entrepreneur to enter into relations with these “angels”. The alumni associations of colleges or universities, pension funds, the investment club are so many places to find these people.
Tax Assistance
Individuals who invest capital in companies creating their taxes may deduct an amount equal to 25% of its investment in the limit of 37 500 francs for a single person or 75,000 francs for a couple. In return, he agrees to keep its shares pending five years