Angel investors are vital to enterprise startups, writing the first checks to try to grow the kernel of an idea into the next Salesforce or Oracle. However, they often work quietly behind the scenes, attracting less attention than those who back flashier consumer companies.
With the help of Wing VC, a Palo Alto-based early-stage firm focused on enterprise startups, Business Insider is identifying 60 of the top angel investors who invest in business-to-business startups.
To compile the data, Wing worked backward, surveying over 100 of the leading VCs and corporate development executives to identify the top enterprise startups. Once it whittled down the list, Wing set out to discover the angels who were among the earliest investors in those companies.
“One thing we struggled with is that data around the individual investors in a company is really incomplete,” said Peter Wagner, founding partner of Wing. “So we had to go and hit a wide range of data sources and proactively reach out to the individuals to make sure we’re being comprehensive.”
By and large, Wing found the top angels are still very active in their full-time day jobs, running their own companies like Figma and Datadog.
“These aren’t old retired guys,” Wagner said. “These are people that are typically still helping lead their company. And then while they’re doing that, they’re mentoring the next generation.”
It is worth noting that the list of top companies is subjective and Wing also did not examine the angels’ returns, how much they invested, or at what price. But in tech, being early offers the biggest risk but also the largest rewards.
