100 Top Angel Investors List for Startups (2025)

The startup marketplace by design is mostly cash-strapped, especially in its early stages. Founders start a company pooling in resources from personal savings and donations from family and friends. Beyond this, a steady injection of funds is required for the company to innovate and grow. This is when startups find angel investors.

Angel Investors

Startup fundraising happens in stages. It begins at home with the founder’s contacts, moving towards angel investors and finally scaling up to venture capitalists. These investment instruments are unique in design and entrepreneur-friendly. As we can see angel investors are the first external funding source for a startup.

What is an angel investor?

Angel investors are typically high-net-worth individuals who invest in the early stages of a startup in exchange for equity in the company. Angel investors for startups are also known as private investors, seed investors, angel funders, informal investors, or business angels. Angel investments are mostly one-time and aim at assisting the take-off of a startup.

By design, an angel investor is funding the entrepreneur with company funds and a brilliant idea, unlike a regular business investor focused solely on profits. Unlike venture capitalists, angels are helping the startup take their first steps and business gains are only secondary.

Why do startups prefer angel investors for funding?

Startups in their early stages need as much hand-holding as possible. Money is one aspect, but the optimum use of it and resourceful expenditures are key to a startup’s financial stability. Angel investors for startups provide this wonderful combination of funds and expertise. Some of the obvious reasons for preferring angel investors are:

• Offer wealth and knowledge – The best angel investors are usually the ones with a wide gamut of first-hand experience of running successful enterprises. Apart from the money, they contribute by mentoring the startups as well. Research shows that startups backed by angel investors stand a higher chance of growth and greater rates of returns.
• Helps in networking with industry experts – Since angel investors for startups are themselves part of a wide professional network, the companies they invest in and the entrepreneurs they mentor receive a good introduction into these circles. It is a crucial addition as apart from access to a wide range of experienced professionals, these introductions form the basis of further funding rounds as well.
• Willing to take risks – A typical angel investment gives an IRR of 20 – 40% over 5 – 7 years if the startup succeeds. Thus an angel investor has only his experience and the community’s know-how to spot potentially profitable ideas and support them to fruition. Despite all checks, most startups fail and the investor loses a substantial chunk of the funds. This is a prevailing risk in this sector.

Finding the Right Angel Investor in 2025

Angel investments despite being risky are trending in equity circles owing to the possibility of massive returns in comparison to regular investment methods. An entrepreneur has to be careful while choosing a connection as their company’s equity is at stake. The way angels carefully scrutinize proposals and decide whom to invest in; founders must research as well before agreeing to onboard an angel investor.

How to find the right angel investor for a startup?

From a sea of potential investors, let us look at some pointers to find angel investors suited for your company:

• Know their profile – As discussed in the previous section, though not mandatory, an accredited investor might be your best option. Their financial background is vetted thus making them more reliable. Apart from this, some other important aspects of their profile could be:
  • Ready to invest at least $150,000 and open to participate in angel syndicates increasing the total value of investments.
  • Ready to hold the investment for at least 5 – 7 years.
  • Successful entrepreneurial experience, preferably in the same industry.
  • Enjoys mentoring and willing to be part of a growing venture.
  • Geographically well suited, preferably in the same region as the company.
• Participate in business networks – Due to the risk factor involved in angel investments, deals are granted mostly to the ones introduced by a reference. As an entrepreneur, one must focus on establishing their identity in their regional business networks and connect with as many business owners as possible. Business owners have the potential to become angel investors for startups or happen to know many of them.
• Online networks – Online platforms such as websites and social media pages are increasingly trending as active networking platforms. Creating favorable connections has never been easier.

Top 100 Active Angel Investors List – 2025 Updated

Now that we have a fair idea about how to identify a potential angel investor based on business needs, we present you with a comprehensive list of 100 active angel investors. This list aims to provide a snapshot of the investment profile of each of these 100 angel investors.

Si. No	Name	Number of Investments	Key Personal Investments	Number of Exits
1	Hesham Zreik	691	Vroom, EXIP, Stellar	12
2	Edward Lando	522	Reddit, Misfits Market, Archer	56
3	Bashar Hamood	367	EXIP, Stellar, Banger	6
4	Kunal Shah	289	Zetwerk, Pristyn Care, Yonder	20
5	Naval Ravikant	273	Basis, Replit, Eight Sleep	70
6	Fabrice Grinda	259	FanDuel, Dataminr, Farfetch	83
7	Mark Cuban	254	Relativity Space, Yuga Labs, Metromile	37
8	Scott Belsky	220	Uber, Reddit, KoBold Metals	43
9	Elad Gil	219	Anduril Industries, Scale AI, Pacific Fusion	28
10	Charlie Songhurst	219	Radius Intelligence, Story Protocol, Cord	34
11	Gokul Rajaram	205	Postman, CloudWalk, Whatnot	20
12	Balaji Srinivasan	202	Etched.ai, Khatabook, Perplexity	3
13	Nadav Ben-Chanoch	187	OpenStore, Scope Security, PIXmania.com	8
14	Marc Benioff	186	SandboxAQ, Pipe, World Labs	49
15	Daniel Curran	185	RentoMojo, Learner-Centered Collaborative, Human Longevity	48
16	Paul Buchheit	172	Let’s Do This, Reddit, Gecko Robotics	70
17	Chris Adelsbach	169	Sharegain, Metaversal, Outfund	15
18	Alexis Ohanian	166	Sorare, Impossible Foods, BitClout	51
19	Scott Banister	154	Together AI, Density, Forge	58
20	Jon Oringer	153	Essor, Misfits Market, Archer	13
21	Shervin Pishevar	151	Uber, Airbnb, Limit Break	64
22	Wei Guo	145	PACT Pharma, Golden, Boom Supersonic	29
23	Justin Mateen	136	Kavak, Urbanic, Omio	14
24	Lachy Groom	132	Anduril Industries, acific Fusion, Zepto	6
25	Kevin Mahaffey	123	dcbel, Albedo, Coco	27
26	Peter Thiel	122	BitDAO, Cleerly, New Amsterdam Pharma	22
27	Esther Dyson	122	Openwater, Brightmail, Swvl	30
28	Sam Altman	119	Retro Biosciences, Helion Energy, Neuralink	25
29	Louis Beryl	118	Opendoor, Gusto, Collective Health	32
30	Tom Williams	117	Grove Collaborative, Jumbotail, NorthOne	11
31	Sahin Boydas	110	Lambda, Shield AI, Astranis	9
32	Xavier Niel	110	DICE, Mistral AI, PayFit	27
33	Kevin Lin	109	NZXT, Sleeper, Karat Financial	6
34	Tim Draper	106	Bancor, Xanadu, Zilingo	25
35	Ronald Conway	105	World Labs, Joby Aviation, Ambient.ai	60
36	Cyan Banister	105	IRL, Density, Diamond Foundry	27
37	Max Levchin	105	Unity, Earn.com, Yammer	34
38	Sandeep Nailwal	104	Berachain, Succinct, Fabric Cryptography	2
39	Anupam Mittal	104	Rigi, Meragi, GrayQuest	14
40	Kevin Hartz	102	1Password, OpenSea, Nearside	21
41	Clark Landry	101	Thrive Market, Fair, Maple Media	30
42	Simon Murdoch	100	HomePoint, Moreover.com, Fluidly	23
43	Dylan Field	99	OpenSea, Perplexity, HeyGen	8
44	Bradley Horowitz	97	Pipe, Scale AI, Mammoth Biosciences	15
45	Taavet Hinrikus	96	Bol, Entrepreneur First, Zego	12
46	Reid Hoffman	95	Inflection AI, Pacific Fusion, Applied Intuition	37
47	Ramakant Sharma	94	Wiz Freight, Atomberg Technology, Toothsi	1
48	Kevin Moore	94	Plastiq, Decent, Redbird	24
49	Nat Friedman	94	Scale AI, CoreWeave, Magic	6
50	Wayne Chang	92	SoFi, Pipe, Planet	30
51	Thibaud Elziere	92	Algolia, PayFit, Memo Bank	5
52	Nitesh Banta	91	Cognition, Varda, Fashinza	11
53	George Burke	89	Polkadot, Kik,Status.imm	5
54	David Tisch	89	Handy, Luxe, Houseparty	49
55	Private Investors	87	Nano Precision Medical, THIRUMALS PAPER ARIZONA PVT. LTD., Ambient Scientific AI	3
56	Bill Gates	86	Commonwealth Fusion, Inflection AI, Heineken	12
57	Mark Pincus	85	Essor, Earn.com, Diamond Foundry	22
58	Guillermo Rauch	84	WorkOS, Perplexity, Runway	5
59	Auren Hoffman	84	G2, Practice Fusion, Turing	40
60	Binny Bansal	83	slice, Wasoko, Acko	7
61	Arjun Sethi	82	Lyft, Nium, Snap	25
62	Kunal Bahl	82	Khataboo, Digifin, Snapdeal	13
63	Rajan Anandan	81	Smytten, Freshtohome, authorSTREAM.com	18
64	Justin Kan	80	Ready Player Me, Gunzilla Games, Finless Foods	9
65	Garry Tan	80	Perplexity, Lambda, NewLimit	23
66	JaMes Sowers	80	Sirin Labs, Bancor, Status.im	9
67	Shane Neman	79	Flexport, Perplexity, Impossible Foods	11
68	Dharmesh Shah	79	D3, Drift, Recraft	26
69	Gary Vaynerchuk	79	RECUR, Sorare, Medium	33
70	Eduardo Ronzano	79	Poolside, Memo Bank, Morpho Labs	13
71	Chris Sang	76	Bolt, Planetary Resources, NodeSource	11
72	Benjamin Ling	76	Palantir Technologie, Quora, Merlin Labs	35
73	Jeremy Yap	76	Maven Clinic, fabric, Paebbl	20
74	Jack Altman	74	NexHealth, WorkOS, Reprise	8
75	Lee Linden	74	Honor, Earli, MyFitnessPal	29
76	Immad Akhund	73	Jeeves Inc., Zero Hash, Linear	7
77	Rohit Bansal	72	Khatabook, Digifin, Snapdeal	13
78	Joanne Wilson	72	littleBits Electronics, Reaction Commerce, The Mighty	13
79	Arash Ferdowsi	71	Cover, Golden, Slope	2
80	Daren Cotter	71	Nice Healthcare, Pakal Technologies, Rentable	11
81	Ashton Kutcher	71	1Password, MoonPay, Dapper Labs	21
82	Spencer Rascoff	70	Relativity Space, Relativity Space, Doma	14
83	Rob Dobson	70	Mallzee, Atto, Appsumer	6
84	Joshua Schachter	69	Lob, Betable, Patreon	34
85	Bryan Rosenblatt	68	DocuSign, Slack, Carta	16
86	Roman Smolevskiy	67	Commonwealth Fusion, xAI, Formic Technologies
87	Eric Schmidt	67	Inflection AI, Pacific Fusion, SandboxAQ	15
88	Brendan Wallace	67	Zenefits, Tripping.com, STRATIM Systems	25
89	Daniel Gross	65	CoreWeave, Magic, CoreWeave	6
90	Brad Flora	65	Mercury, Fazz, Truewind	16
91	Vishal Rao	65	AngelList, Knightscope, Rain AI	3
92	Nat Turner	65	Collectors, Cedar, Iterative Scopes	20
93	Sebastien Borget	64	Everyrealm, Fan Controlled Football, Horizon Blockchain Games	2
94	Vijay Shekhar Sharma	64	GOQii, FloBiz, Paytm Payments Bank	5
95	Keith Rabois	64	Palantir Technologies, Xoom, All Day Kitchens	40
96	Farzad Nazem	63	Elementum, Practice Fusion, TigerGraph	33
97	Eric Ries	63	Asana, Tenderly, Earli	21
98	Avichal Garg	62	Figma, Pulley, Boom Supersonic	14
99	Dave Morin	62	Luxe, Dance, Silvercar	34
100	Paul Forster	62	Banked, Qatalog, Oxwash	5

Data sourced from Crunchbase on Jan, 30th 2025

List of important Active Angel Investors (2025)

Further, we have shortlisted the 20 most influential, well-networked, and diverse individuals who are leading the angel investing scene today. This section provides a brief about each one of them.

1. Hesham Zreik

Hesham Zreik is a technology professional, serial entrepreneur, seed investor, and mentor. He is the co-founder and CEO of FasterCapital, an online accelerator and incubator that supports startups globally. Founded in 2010, FasterCapital has assisted over 450 companies and has a network of more than 1,000 regional partners worldwide. Hesham Zreik has invested in over 100 startups and co-founded over 40 companies.

In 2002, Zreik launched his first startup, ZGroup Mobile, with less than $20 per month, growing it to a valuation of $2.5 to $3.25 million by 2005. Hesham  Zreik has expertise in digital transformation, software architecture, and strategic planning, with over 20 years of experience in leading multinational businesses. He identifies AI and machine learning as game-changers for several industries and emphasizes the growing importance of sustainability and the lasting impact of remote work.

2. Edward Lando

Edward Lando, an accomplished entrepreneur and graduate of Wharton, has made a name for himself in the world of startups. In 2013, he launched Pareto Holdings, an early-stage investment firm with a knack for identifying high-potential tech ventures. Spanning over 100 investments across diverse sectors like fintech, healthcare, and consumer goods, Pareto Holdings doesn’t just invest – it actively supports its portfolio, making Lando a valuable partner for budding companies.

He’s known for his willingness to take risks and invest in early-stage startups, prioritizing the team, market opportunity, and product as key factors for success. This philosophy has translated into successful investments, including fintech giants like Ramp and Mercury, alongside innovative platforms like Misfits Market. Recognized as a top angel investor by Forbes and CB Insights, Lando’s influence extends beyond investments. He actively shares his expertise through industry talks and social media engagement, fostering the growth of the startup ecosystem. With his impressive track record and dedication to supporting founders, Edward Lando remains a prominent figure shaping the future of innovative ventures.

3. Bashar Hamood

Bashar Hamood is a Venture Partner at FasterCapital, an online incubator, accelerator, and service provider that helps startups and small businesses. He focuses on identifying and reaching out to new deals with startups and founders. Hamood is also an investor in various companies, including Fixiest, BookThatBook, NewsAnalyse, FulHost Inc., Entablet, ME2TV, PinProfile, MobAdv, and Savme. Before his role at FasterCapital, Hamood was a Mentor at TrustMed and an Associate Director at Logica from 2011 to 2013. He holds a Master’s Degree from Heriot-Watt University and a Bachelor’s from the University of Oxford.

Hamood’s investment interests span various sectors and stages, including SMB Software (Seed), Entertainment & Sports (Seed), Entertainment & Sports (Series A), Media/Content (Seed), Education (Series A), and more. His investment range is between $100K and $5.0M, with a sweet spot of $1.5M.

4. Kunal Shah

Kunal Shah is an Indian entrepreneur, angel investor, and the founder and CEO of CRED, a fintech startup that rewards credit card users for paying their bills on time. He is the co-founder of Freecharge, which was later acquired by Snapdeal for around $400 million. He is a leading figure in technology and startups and has served as a part-time partner at Y Combinator and an advisor at Sequoia Capital. According to a report by A Junior VC, Kunal Shah has made more than 200 investments across start-ups. He is known for his unique angel investing style and has been an early backer of several fintech companies.

He holds a BA in Philosophy from Wilson College, Mumbai. He has invested in multiple projects such as Go-Jek, Zilingo, Unacademy, Shuttl, Chillr, Innov8, Lifcare, TinyOwl, Spinny, Jugnoo, Mobile Premier League (MPL), Azani, Tapzo, Runnr, Flyrobe, Razorpay, Voonik, TVF, PocketAces, Rupeek, Dil Mil, and more. Kunal Shah’s net worth is estimated to be over $500 million, and he has publicly held 7 stocks with a net worth of over Rs. 133.6 Crore as of December 31, 2022.

5. Naval Ravikant

Naval Ravikant is an American entrepreneur and investor best known as the co-founder and CEO of AngelList. His entrepreneurial journey began in 1999 as the co-founder of Epinions, a consumer product review site. However, his investing journey began in 2007 when he founded the early-stage venture capital fund with $20 million – The Hit Forge. 

Around the same time, he started co-writing a blog named Venture Hacks that “offered detailed advice on negotiating term sheets, explained which sections mattered, and which provisions were bogus.” This blog eventually grew into AngeList, co-founded by Ravikant in 2010.

In 2014, Naval Ravikant launched an investment fund called Spearhead including founders from about 35 companies with a cumulative worth of over $10 billion. Some companies he has invested in are Uber, FourSquare, Twitter, Wish.com, Poshmark, Postmates, Thumbtack, SnapLogic, Opendoor, OpenDNS, Yammer, and Clearview AI. Over the years, Naval has invested in over 200 companies, of which 10 are unicorns, and recorded over 70 successful exits.

6. Fabrice Grinda

Fabrice Grinda is a New York-based French entrepreneur and super angel. His entrepreneurial journey began in 1998 at the age of 23 when he co-founded and served as the CEO of Aucland, which later became one of the largest auction sites in Europe. He also co-founded Zingy and OLX. 

His investments are focused on marketplaces that connect buyers to the target group of sellers. Some of his early investments were in Alibaba, Flexport, Delivery Hero, Betterment, and Brightroll. He runs a startup studio and venture fund named FJ Labs that helps startups build successful companies. 

Grinda and his team of experts are known to analyze about 100 companies weekly and commit to a new investment almost every 15 days. He has 640+ startups in the portfolio, of which 70% are in the US, and the rest 30% are distributed globally over  Brazil, France, Germany, the UK, Russia, China, and Turkey. Grinda is also a regular business blogger and a public speaker addressing themes such as technology, emerging markets, and investing. His top investments include Airbnb, Boxed, Dropbox, Lending Club, Palantir Technologies, Viagogo, Uber, and Wikimart.  Grinda is reputed to hold $300 million in over 150 exits.

7. Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is an American entrepreneur, individual angel investor, media proprietor, and TV personality. His entrepreneurial journey began by founding a computer consulting service called ‘MicroSolutions’ that was eventually acquired by CompuServe. After this, what began as a solution to not missing out on basketball games, along with his longtime friend Todd Wagner Cuban founded ‘Broadcast.com’ which streamed audio over the internet. This venture too became a grand success and was later acquired by Yahoo for $5.6 billion dollars. 

Cuban is popular for owning the NBA Dallas Mavericks and for being the main ‘shark’ in the TV series ‘Shark Tank’. Some of his most profitable investments at ‘Shark Tank’ are Tower Paddle Boards, Nuts ‘N More, Gameday Couture, and Simple Sugars. He also co-owns ‘2929 Entertainment’ and is the chairman of AXS TV. 

Mark Cuban is the renowned investor of 11 patent families and 23 distinct patent publications for his inventions and also founded ‘Sharesleuth’ a research and investigation website that uncovers frauds in the financial markets. Cuban has 97 portfolio companies and 21 exits so far.

8. Scott Belsky

In 2017, Scott Belsky became Adobe’s Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President for Creative Cloud. Prior to this, he co-founded Behance in 2006, leading as CEO until Adobe acquired it in 2012. Post-acquisition, Scott served as Adobe’s VP of Products and later joined Benchmark as a General Partner. Returning to Adobe in 2017, he currently holds the role of Chief Product Officer and EVP of Creative Cloud.

Besides his venture capitalist role, Scott manages a portfolio of 150+ private companies from early investments, including Pinterest, Uber, and others. He is also the author of bestselling books “Making Ideas Happen” and “The Messy Middle.” Scott founded the 99U conference, advocating for initiatives empowering creative communities. Recognized in Fast Company’s “100 Most Creative People in Business” in 2010, Scott previously contributed to Goldman Sachs’ Pine Street Leadership Development Initiative. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and serves on advisory boards for Cornell University’s Entrepreneurship Program and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Scott resides in both New York City and San Francisco with his family.

9. Charles Songhurst

Charles Songhurst is one of the founding partners of the long-short equities hedge fund Katana Capital. In addition, he is the manager of the Songhurst Group, which owns investments in several private businesses. He is known for his expertise in technology and investment. He gained recognition for his role at Microsoft, where he worked as the Head of Corporate Strategy. 

After leaving Microsoft, Songhurst became an angel investor, funding and supporting various startups. Angel investors invest their funds in early-stage companies in exchange for equity. Charles oversaw Microsoft’s business strategy, concentrating on M&A and partnerships. He was a part of the Skype purchase as well as the commercial transactions, including Yahoo. Charles was more concerned with the rise of Google and the expansion of the search sector than he was with company strategy. Charles used to work as an analyst in London for McKinsey & Company. Charles graduated from Oxford University with a bachelor’s degree in economics, philosophy, and politics.

10. Elad Gil

Elad Gil is a prominent American entrepreneur, angel investor, and advisor, notably co-founding Color Genomics and serving as the former Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Twitter. He holds degrees in mathematics and molecular biology, including a PhD from MIT.

Having played a key role at Google and founded Mixer Labs, Gil currently chairs the crypto fund Electric Capital and the drug discovery company Spring Discovery. As of 2021, he advises numerous companies, reflecting his broad industry influence. In 2013, Gil co-founded Color Genomics, a company specializing in genetic testing for hereditary conditions..

Born in 1974 in San Francisco, his multifaceted contributions span entrepreneurship, angel investing, and advancements in healthcare technology. He is a serial entrepreneur, operating executive, and investor or advisor to private companies, including AirBnB, Pinterest, Square, and Stripe. His previous roles include serving as the VP of Corporate Strategy at Twitter, as well as being a co-founder of Color Genomics and Mixer Labs.

11. Gokul Rajaram

Gokul Rajaram received an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, a graduate degree from The University of Texas at Austin, an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and an MBA from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Rajaram serves on the executive team at DoorDash, a logistics and food ordering service. Before DoorDash, he worked at Square, leading several product development teams and serving on Square’s executive team. Mr. Rajaram was instrumental in building the first version of Google AdSense and grew Google AdSense from zero to over $1 billion in revenues. He went on to found an NLP company acquired by Facebook, where he led the Ads Product team as Product Director, helping grow revenues from $0.75 billion to $6.5 billion, and helped Facebook transition its advertising business to become mobile-first. He also sits on the board of Coinbase, Pinterest (NASDAQ: PINS), The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD) and is an advisor to over 50 startups. IITK conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award to Mr. Gokul Rajaram, 2020.

12. Balaji Srinivasan

Balaji S. Srinivasan is an investor and entrepreneur known for his work in cryptocurrency and technology. He is the co-founder of Coin Center, the former chief technology officer (CTO) of Coinbase, and the co-founder of Counsyl, Earn.com, and Teleport. He holds PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering, all from Stanford University. As a graduate student, he authored and co-authored papers on microbial and human genomics, pharmacogenetics, the genetics of complex diseases, population genetics, and Mendelian disease.

Srinivasan also authorizes the WSJ Best-Selling book The Network State How To Start a New Country as a guide to creating such a country. In September 2024, Srinivasan started The Network School in Forest City, Johor, Malaysia, a school focused on developing “network nations” and “decentralized countries.”

13. Nadav Ben-Chanoch

Nadav Ben-Chanoch is an entrepreneur and investor with a background in launching and scaling businesses, focusing on supporting Jewish and Israeli causes. He is the Founder and CEO of Survivor Spring, a company focused on acquiring and growing businesses. Originally from Israel, Ben-Chanoch was raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Palmetto Middle and High School. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Florida with a major in chemical engineering.

Nadav attended the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in NYC. He worked for four years as an M&A lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis in New York, representing private equity funds in M&A transactions. He co-founded Rowgatta, a tech-retail fitness company that closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

14. Marc Benioff

Marc Benioff, the Californian entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Salesforce, has left an indelible mark on the tech industry. Known for revolutionizing customer relationship management with cloud technology, he acquired Time magazine in 2018, showcasing his diverse influence.

Benioff’s journey began at Oracle, where he honed his skills for 13 years before founding Salesforce in 1999. His disruptive leadership turned the company into a global force, earning him recognition as an innovator.

Beyond business, Benioff is a passionate philanthropist, dedicating billions to causes like education and healthcare.  An outspoken figure on social and political issues, Benioff, a close confidante of former President Obama, continues to shape public discourse. Beyond his entrepreneurial and philanthropic pursuits, Benioff is also a prolific angel investor. He has personally invested in over 100 startups, spanning various industries like enterprise software, clean technology, and social impact ventures. His early-stage funding and mentorship have helped numerous young companies flourish, solidifying his commitment to fostering innovation and empowering future generations of entrepreneurs.

15. Daniel Curran

Daniel Curran is one of the most dynamic, well-networked angel investors and tech entrepreneurs in the US, receiving a deal flow of nearly 300 decks weekly.  His areas of passion are stopping/reversing human aging, BCI, brain emulation/download and cryonics, empowering customers/voters via the new CustEx platform launching soon, and he believes in building $B companies that would improve the world. Daniel Curran holds the rank of #7 among Silicon Valley’s top angel investors, according to Forbes, considering both investment volume and successful exits. His portfolio includes over 176 startups, boasting 8+ Unicorns, an 8x+ TVPI, and garnering 110+ LinkedIn Founder recommendations. Currently serving as the Founder and CEO of CustEx, Daniel focuses on empowering customers and BLM/2020 Election voters to drive improvements.

Formerly a Rocket Scientist, Daniel is known for his forward-thinking perspective, contemplating the future of the Universe for the next century. His dedication extends to making immortality, stopping and reversing aging, and cryonics commonplace, recognizing the investment implications of these endeavors. Daniel identifies limited investors sharing the same vision and perceives significant opportunities for UHNW and Family Offices to outpace venture capitalists with a more liquid structure, especially in the face of current unsustainable public and private investing bubbles.

16. Paul Buchheit

Paul Buchheit is an American entrepreneur and angel investor based in Mountain View, California. He had co-founded FriendFeed, which Facebook later acquired in a private acquisition in 2009. He was also the creator and lead developer of Gmail. Buccheit co-founded Y Combinator and presently spearheads the Y Combinator Core program. Previously he has also served as an engineer at Intel, Sun Microsystems, and Microsoft. 

He turned to angel investing after a rich experience spanning nearly a decade. Buccheit’s investment focuses on media, information technology, health, enterprise software, and analytics-based companies in Silicon Valley and Mountain View. Over the years, he has invested in 150+ US companies and seen nearly 80 successful exits.

17. Chris Adelsbach

Chris Adelsbach is a London-based entrepreneur, fintech investor, and mentor. He is the founding partner of Outrun Ventures and a venture partner of Techstars. Sifted named Adelsbach the most active fintech angel in Europe in 2022, and Business Insider named him the number one seed investor in Europe in 2021. In 2018, the UK Business Angel Association named Chris the Angel Investor of the Year.

Adelsbach is the first/early investor in growth-stage companies such as Railsr, Monese, Smart Pension, Kuda Bank, Atom Bank, Sharegain, and Marshmallow. He also serves on the advisory boards of Crowdz, Twig, Quant Network, and Railsr.

Before his career as an investor, Adelsbach graduated from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in 1995. He joined GE Money in the United Kingdom in 1997, holding leadership roles until 2006. He then co-founded Marlin Financial Group, one of the UK’s fastest-growing companies. 2014 Chris and his co-founders sold their business to a NASDAQ-listed entity and a large U.S. Private Equity group.

18. Alexis Ohanian

Born on April 24, 1983, Alexis Ohanian is an Armenian-American entrepreneur, investor, activist, and author, best known as the co-founder of Reddit. He openly advocates for the open internet, STEM education, and paid family leave, and has authored the best-selling book ‘Without Their Permission.’

While at the University of Virginia, Ohanian, along with his co-founder Steve Huffman, shifted from a failed food-ordering idea to creating reddit.com. His entrepreneurial journey, detailed in “Without Their Permission,” reflects a path from early interests in web design and leadership to founding one of the internet’s most influential platforms.

Ohanian is not only the co-founder of Reddit but also an early-stage venture capitalist at Initialized Capital. Formerly associated with Y Combinator, he has been involved in ventures like Hipmunk and Breadpig. Managing investments over $500 million through Initialized Capital, Ohanian focuses on building companies that matter, with a portfolio boasting a market value of $36 billion, including six unicorns. Identified as a business dad, he remains committed to investing in and building impactful businesses.

19. Scott Banister

Scott Banister is an American angel investor and entrepreneur. His career began as a pioneer of the email business in 1996 when he co-founded Submit It. Serving as the vice president of technology, the company’s product ListBot ultimately went on to be acquired by Microsoft in 1998. After this success, Banister co-founded and served on the board of many startups, such as eVoice, Idealab,  Powerset, and Slide. 

He is best known as the co-founder of IronPort and an early investor at PayPal. Banister and his wife co-founded an adult-themed social networking site, Zivity. His other investments include Uber, Zappos.com, LiveOps, Facebook, Hi5.com, Tagged.com, iLike, Causes.com, Topsy Labs, Teleport, Inc., and TekTrak. Scott Banister has a record of 44 exits among 116 portfolio companies.

20. Jon Oringer

Jon Oringer is the founder of Shutterstock. He is an American programmer, photographer, and billionaire businessman. He attended Stony Brook University, earning a B.S. in computer science and mathematics in 1997, and later received an M.S. in computer science from Columbia University. 

In 2003, he founded Shutterstock, a stock-photo marketplace. Initially, he supplied the platform with 30,000 of his images. Over time, he expanded the platform by hiring models and additional contributors. Before Shutterstock, Oringer launched around ten small startups that sold software products. He is credited with inventing one of the first pop-up blockers. In 2003, he founded Shutterstock, a stock-photo marketplace. Initially, he supplied the platform with 30,000 of his images. Over time, he expanded the platform by hiring models and additional contributors. Oringer is a certified commercial helicopter pilot. In 2020, he purchased a $42 million mansion in Miami Beach.

Top 20 Angel Investors with Highest Number of Exits

In the investment world, “exit” refers to the stage in the funding cycle where investors cease their involvement in the business. Naturally, these decisions can’t be ad-hoc. An exit strategy must be built into the investment contract so that all stakeholders are aware of their timelines. Angel investments usually last 5 to 7 years. Keeping the exit in mind, operating strategies are designed. The two most popular exit modes are either acquisition by a business giant or an IPO. Either way, without a proper exit strategy in mind, both founders and investors could run into losses. 

Here is a compilation of the top 20 angel investors who have had the highest number of successful exits. Smooth exits indicate a healthy investment. In many cases, early exits are preferred as well. To choose the best angel investors who not only provide funding, but also a business mentorship strong enough to guide a growing startup, the number of exits it has is a reliable indicator.

Sr. No	Name	Number of Investments	Number of Exits	Exit Rate
1	Fabrice Grinda	259	83	32.05%
2	Paul Buchheit	172	70	40.70%
3	Naval Ravikant	273	70	25.64%
4	Shervin Pishevar	151	64	42.38%
5	Ronald Conway	105	60	57.14%
6	Scott Banister	154	58	37.66%
7	Edward Lando	522	56	10.73%
8	Alexis Ohanian	166	51	30.72%
9	David Tisch	89	49	55.06%
10	Marc Benioff	186	49	26.34%
11	Daniel Curran	185	48	25.95%
12	Scott Belsky	220	43	19.55%
13	Keith Rabois	64	40	62.50%
14	Auren Hoffman	84	40	47.62%
15	Reid Hoffman	95	37	38.95%
16	Mark Cuban	254	37	14.57%
17	Benjamin Ling	76	35	46.05%
18	Dave Morin	62	34	54.84%
19	Joshua Schachter	69	34	49.28%
20	Max Levchin	105	34	32.38%

Data sourced from Crunchbase on Jan 30th, 2025. Top 20 based on a number of exits from the top 100 list.

Top 20 Angel Investors with the Highest Number of Exit Rate

The ‘exit rate’ indicates how often an angel investor is exiting from its portfolio companies. This is directly connected to the fund holding periods. For example, imagine Angel A has invested in 5 companies with a planned exit after 6 years, and Angel B has invested in 5 companies with a 3 year exit for two companies and 6 yr exit for the other three. At the end of 6 years, Angel A will have the highest exit rate as he exits all five at a time. 

However, the dynamics are much more complicated in real time investments. Every company in an Angel’s portfolio will have a customized exit plan and the timelines will overlap. Exit rates can be indicative of a higher chance for accepting new funding applications as the investor is quickly moving out of their existing holdings. Founders must research well as the flip side of this story is that longer holding periods indicate problems in the deal and hence difficulties at sale.

Sr. No	Name	Number of Investments	Number of Exits	Exit Rate
1	Keith Rabois	64	40	62.50%
2	Ronald Conway	105	60	57.14%
3	David Tisch	89	49	55.06%
4	Dave Morin	62	34	54.84%
5	Farzad Nazem	63	33	52.38%
6	Joshua Schachter	69	34	49.28%
7	Auren Hoffman	84	40	47.62%
8	Benjamin Ling	76	35	46.05%
9	Shervin Pishevar	151	64	42.38%
10	Gary Vaynerchuk	79	33	41.77%
11	Paul Buchheit	172	70	40.70%
12	Lee Linden	74	29	39.19%
13	Reid Hoffman	95	37	38.95%
14	Scott Banister	154	58	37.66%
15	Brendan Wallace	67	25	37.31%
16	Eric Ries	63	21	33.33%
17	Dharmesh Shah	79	26	32.91%
18	Wayne Chang	92	30	32.61%
19	Max Levchin	105	34	32.38%
20	Fabrice Grinda	259	83	32.05%

Data sourced from Crunchbase on Jan 30th, 2025. Top 20 based on number of exit rate from the top 100 list.

Want to Manage Company Equity Operations? Eqvista help you!

We hope this comprehensive list serves as a good starting point for seeking angel investors. However angel investments happen in exchange for equity. Having a strong equity management system will strengthen your company’s profile. 

With our unique Eqvista software you can manage equity transactions, create share certificates, and manage shareholders all in one place. Eqvista’s sophisticated software allows you to issue, track, and manage shares to founders, employees, and investors with absolute ease. For more information read our support articles or contact us today.