Early stage Victorian founders will soon have access to the nation’s first values-focussed Impact Angel Network.
Published: August 16, 2019We’re about to launch the Impact Angel Network – a new community of angel investors with a special focus on impact startups.
The Network will work alongside IIG’s Giant Leap venture capital team to provide opportunities to angel investors who want to balance financial returns with measurable social and environmental outcomes.
The first year’s funding comes from The Victorian Government, via Launch Vic‘s Grant Round X.
We know that more and more investors and startups are looking for values-aligned opportunities; this network wants to happen – we’re just connecting the dots.
With the Impact Angel Network, we want to help foster strong, impact-focussed relationships between investors and founders and increase access to capital for a diverse range of early-stage startups.
Recent reports from Startup Genome and LaunchVic revealed the ongoing challenge in connecting angel investors to the startup community rather than an outright shortage of capital available.
We have a strong base of investors and founders, and this network will become about creating that safe and collaborative community for early stage founders to grow.
Information and power is traditionally with investors, the network aims to diffuse it among founders to empower them and help accelerate the Victorian startup ecosystem.
The Impact Angel Network will be run by Damien Messina, and we’re thrilled to have him in the team. A particular goal of his is to help provide the access to capital that will also drive diversity and inclusion within the startup ecosystem.
In Damien’s words: “Impact startups typically address the challenges of underrepresented groups and have been found to be started by diverse founders with lived experiences of the challenges they are seeking to address”.
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