Also known as angels. Individuals who invest their personal capital in one or more early stage companies. Angel investors who invest in multiple companies sometimes belong to angel networks that receive and share information about potential investments, investing strategies and entrepreneurs. These repeat angel investors often have industry expertise in the spaces they invest in and therefore often assume roles as directors or advisory board members of the companies receiving the investments.

Angels tend not to make follow-on investments in the same company to avoid over-concentration in their investment portfolios. They invest comparatively limited personal capital, in contrast to venture capital funds, which typically raise and invest substantially more total capital from large institutions. Angel investors often bridge the gap between a friends and family round and venture capital Series A rounds.

Super angels are high net worth individuals whose primary profession has become making seed round and other venture capital investments. Their total available capital gives super angels the ability to make more follow-on investments than traditional angel investors.