In March 2022, the number of ads from angel business angels ready to invest in users’ business reached 1903. In an interview with the press service of Avito Services, socialbites.ca told socialbites.ca that this figure has increased by 20% compared to March last year. service. At the same time, the interest of service users in such advertising increased significantly in March: 53% during the year.
who are business angels
A business angel is a private investor who provides financial and expert support to companies and entrepreneurs in the early stages of development. Unlike conventional investors, he invests his own money in the project. This business support app came to Russia from USA. The name originated in the 20th century: sponsors who invested in productions on Broadway were named that way in America. At the initial stage, dozens of well-known companies had the support of business angels: Amazon, Google, Yahoo, Intel.
According to the European Network of Business Angels, the most popular investment areas are information technology, healthcare and biotechnology, business products and services, consumer goods and services, entertainment and media, home appliances and computer components.
In Russia, this direction is also gaining popularity in recent years.
“Interesting niches for Russian business angels are in the IT sector. Moreover, he received serious tax support from the state. Also – in the consumer sector, pharmaceuticals,” said Sergey Suverov, investment strategist at Arikapital Management Company.
Last week, online car booking and daily rental service Getarent raised 10 million rubles from private investors Vadim Karyaev and Evgeny Egorov, according to Forbes and Rusbase. Getarent will invest in scaling the business and attracting new customers. Beginning, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Anapa and other cities are planning to expand.
In early April, two more projects received investment. Anabar marketplace sales management service attracted 65 million rubles from First Bit IT integrator and 13 business angels. Yakut developer Sciberia, which has developed a neural network for analyzing medical images, has raised 150 million rubles from the Voskhod fund created by the Interros investment company of billionaire Vladimir Potanin.
“It replaces western investors”
Experts have confirmed the results of Avito Services regarding the increase in the activity of business angels now. The financiers attributed this to sanctions due to a special operation in Ukraine.
“Western angels have fallen. Business valuations also fell. Opportunities to invest abroad have decreased. “Therefore, it makes sense for Western investors to be replaced by new money,” said Mikhail Kuzin, investment director at BCS World of Investments.
Suverov agreed with him. According to him, against the backdrop of the mass exodus of Western players in Russia, a lot of freelance jobs were formed.
“Also, there are infrastructures for the business, a lot of qualified personnel came out. It is a sin not to take advantage of Russian angels. Moreover, it is no longer easy to withdraw money from abroad.”
Mark Sherman, managing partner of Svoboda Agency, stated that business angels initially invested in dozens of companies.
“One or two projects were fired. Therefore, the angels are now looking at the market. Previously, some products were more difficult to market due to competition from established brands. But the needs of the companies remained the same. The business of raising capital is quite complex. First, companies must show a working prototype with a certain amount of income, which for some funds should amount to several million rubles. Then venture capitalists begin to explore whether it’s worth investing in. Many projects will now get a second chance at life,” Sherman explained.
Anastasia Uskova, CEO of the Rocket Humans technology group, emphasized that entrepreneurs are now ready to consider discount conditions to sell a share or an entire business, and investors do not want to miss the opportunity to buy on favorable terms.
Legal Advisor of the Soviet legal group Vladislav Zhuravlev did not exclude the presence of scammers on the market.
“The number of scam programs may increase in this market. Therefore, a novice entrepreneur should remember the checks of the organization, which the business angel represents. Information on PSRN and TIN can be found in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and other open sources (for example, SPARK). Pay attention to the founding date, founders, number of employees and lawsuits filed. In some courts, it is recommended to pay attention to intellectual property protection cases: as long as the idea is not embodied in a patent or transferred to the author, it is easy to own it,” he said.