Research from entrepreneur group Founders Forum shows 96 of the UK’s 100 most active angel investors are men.
The latest UK Angels 100 ranking also found 25 have an Oxbridge background and 42 run a business themselves.
The research covers the 100 most active angel investors in the UK over the past two years and was compiled with the help of research firm Beauhurst.
The most active investor is Go Cardless co-founder and digital estate agency Nested CEO Matt Robinson. The most active female angel investor with more than 20 investments is Evelyn Bourke, the former CEO of health insurer Bupa.
Other investors on the list comprised of venture capital partners making personal investments and those holding senior roles at companies.
The average number of stakes each angel investor in the top 100 holds is 42, the report said. Beauhurst found fewer than 2,500 investors in the UK had investments in 10 or more companies.
Brent Hoberman, co-founder of Founders Forum, said to The Times: “Early-stage founders in particular are keen to understand which angel investors are best placed to support their businesses and angels want access to unicorn founders in the making.”
To be eligible for the list, investors had to have direct investment in the companies they were backing, rather than indirect investments through platforms such as Seedrs or Crowdcube.
The gender split has a knock-on effect for founders. A report from September 2022 found that almost 25 per cent of companies backed by female angel investors were female founded – higher than the 19 per cent national average.
The same report revealed women remain a minority in the angel investment world, making up just 14 per cent of angel investors. Less than half a per cent (157) have achieved a portfolio of 10 investments or more.
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