image: Cover for "Angels without Borders." view more
Credit: World Scientific
How did some of the world's most valuable and influential companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Uber survive and thrive in their make-or-break early years?
They did it only through the backing of angels. Angel investment is early-stage private investment that has high risks. "Angel investors" provide small amounts of capital ($100,000-$3,000,000) to early stage, high-risk ventures. In recent years, they have not only grown in numbers and sophistication, they have garnered the attention of larger investors and governments throughout the world who are interested in the phenomenal power of start-ups to bring innovative products to consumers, create jobs and economic value, and sustain macroeconomic growth.
Angels Without Borders: Trends and Policies Shaping Angel Investment Worldwide is a geographical narrative at heart. It covers angel investing activities in a diverse array of economies--small and large, developing and advanced, and those with high-tech and traditional sectors. Angel investing is not "going global"; it is there already. It simply has not garnered the recognition it deserves.
Angel investors play an extremely important role in a country's entrepreneurial economy and innovation. Since angel investors invest in early stage, especially seed stage ventures, they usually face much higher risks. Angel investors are indispensable players in a country's start-up ecosystem. At the same time, angel investing is, by definition, a high-risk activity. Therefore, the angel investment ecosystem usually needs some support from the public sector. To encourage angel investment and other early stage investments, some governments have set up favourable policies to promote angel investments. One of the exceptional contributions of this book is that it allows readers to compare the policies of various nations.
Angels Without Borders has two parts. In Part One, experienced angel investors canvass their investment principles and practices, and they discuss trends shaping the angel investment movement, such as crowdfunding, impact investing and angel investing by and for women. In Part Two, angel investment leaders and experts from 26 countries and regions from all six continents -- including both developed and developing economies-- examine how policies and programs are supporting angel investing activities within their nations.
The book draws on more than two dozen nations to examine this trend from a global perspective. It is meant to serve as a field guide and a very useful reference for anyone who is interested in learning about the angel investment movement. It hopes to benefit angel investors, policymakers and entrepreneurs. More importantly, the book aspires to connect angels from countries all over the world with each other, so they will have an opportunity to share experiences and learn from each others' efforts to promote angel investing.
Angels Without Borders retails for US$38/£25 (paperback) and US$68/£45 (hardback). To know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/9881?utm_source=eureka_alert&utm_medium=press_release&utm_campaign=eureka_9881. Should you require a review copy or would like to interview the authors, please contact Ms Amanda Yun at Tel: (65) 64665775, Ext. 446 or Email: heyun@wspc.com.sg
###
About the editors
John May is the Managing Partner of the New Vantage Group, which has organized five angel investing organizations in the Washington, D.C. area since 1999, placing funds into more than 75 companies. He is the co-author of two books on angel investing, Every Business Needs an Angel and State of the Art: An Executive Briefing on Cutting Edge Practices in American Angel Investing. May is Chair-Emeritus of the Angel Capital Association and Co-chairman of the Global Business Angel Network. He is a lead instructor for the "Power of Angel Investing" seminar produced by the Angel Resource Institute and supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Batten Fellow at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and a Managing Director of Seraphim, a UK-based venture capital fund. May served on the board of directors of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, the trade association for the venture capital industry in the Mid-Atlantic region. May began his work in angel investing when he co-founded the Investors' Circle, a network of over 200 investors who use private capital to fund businesses that address social and environmental issues. May also co-founded The Dinner Club, an investment group of 60 Washington, D.C. angels who collectively invest in regional early stage ventures. Washingtonian Magazine named May one of its 100 Tech Titans of DC. At the Angel Capital Association Summit in San Francisco, CA on May 6, 2010, May was awarded the 2010 Hans Severiens Award for the contributions to the angel investing industry.
Manhong Mannie Liu is Chairman of National Venture Capital Research Committee at The Chinese Society for Management Modernization; Director, Venture Capital Research Group at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Research Center on Fictitious Economy and Data Science (FEDS); Professor, Renmin University of China; Board Member, China Venture Capital Research Institute; Editor in Chief, China Venture Capital Journal; Vice Dean, Beijing EDUI Technology Research Institute; Founder and Honorary Chair of China Business Angels Association; Vice Chair, Ecological Development Union International; Board member, World Business Angels Association; and Board Director, Chief Group Hong Kong. Professor Liu has several publications on angel investing, her book Angel Investment and Private Capital, (2003, in Chinese) is considered the first book in this field in China. Professor Liu received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1994, prior to her joining the faculty at Renmin University, she has also worked as research faculty at Harvard University. Her most recent publications include: "Angel Investment in China: Theory and Practice," (in Chinese) Feb. 2015; Renewable Energy in China: Towards a Green Economy (3 volumes), (Hardcover, English) Enrich Professional Publishing, Oct. 2013; China Venture Capital: 20 years of History (Chinese), China Development Publishing, Nov. 2011; Green Economy and its Implementation in China (English) Enrich Professional Publishing, Singapore, May 2011; Venture Capital (Chinese) University of International Business and Economics Press, May 2011; New China Business Strategies: Chinese and American Companies As Global Partners (Hardcover, English), co-authored with John Miligan-Whyte, Specialist Press International, Aug 2009; Start-ups Financing Guidance: Angel Investment (Chinese) Economic Management Publishing, Dec. 2009. Professor Liu is considered one of the pioneers in China's venture capital research field. Her book Venture Capital: Innovation and Finance (in Chinese, Renmin University Press, 1998) was one of the books to introduce the concept of venture capital to China, and it served as a guide for many Chinese first-generation venture capitalists.
About the Associate Editors
Krista Tuomi is a professor in the International Economic Policy program at the School of International Service, American University, Washington DC. Her recent research has focused on best practices in the start-up investment climate, particularly on policies related to angel investing and seed financing.
Joseph O'Keefe is senior advisor to the president and CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the development finance institution of the U.S. government. Previously, he was the head of corporate relations for the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group.
About World Scientific Publishing Co.
World Scientific Publishing is a leading independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research, professional and educational communities. The company publishes about 600 books annually and about 130 journals in various fields. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organizations like the Nobel Foundation, US National Academies Press, as well as its subsidiary, the Imperial College Press, amongst others, to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit http://www.worldscientific.com. For more information, contact Amanda Yun at heyun@wspc.com.sg