How do Czech business angels invest? The survey will help strengthen the market and eliminate the most common mistakes.

Take the survey here 👉  https://form.typeform.com/to/II8XQEFY

“The number and quality of angel investors is crucial to the functioning of the startup community. Our long-term goal is to help investors reduce investment risk. And for us to do that, we need to know something about them. Therefore, every year we organize a survey that helps us find out, for example, the current mood of investors, current trends, what they think about in connection with investing or what problems they face,” says DEPO Ventures partner and founder of the DEPO Angels community Petr Šíma.

Petr Šíma, who is also a member of the board of directors of the leading European network of angel investors EBAN, adds that the survey is not intended only for active angel investors. People who do not invest in startups can also take part. "At the same time, we are interested in what prevents people from starting to invest in startups. In previous surveys, for example, we have found that they often do not know where to start. Some of the respondents eventually started investing with us,” explains Jan Krahulík Investor Relationship Manager at DEPO Angels. The results of the survey will be publicly available. The entire questionnaire, which takes a few minutes to complete, is anonymous.

The pandemic didn’t stop Angel investors

A previous survey conducted in the first half of last year showed that even a series of lockdowns and a paralyzed economy did not prevent angel investors from supporting technology companies (or technologies). 77 percent of angel investors made at least one startup investment during 2020, most often in the range of 260,000 to 1.3 million crowns. For the first time ever, 15 percent of them invested and 32 percent made over half of the investments in their portfolio.

"From the first weeks to months, everyone was waiting to see what would happen. Many investments then slowed down or stopped completely. However, after the first shock, the market began to return quickly to normal, including expectations of valuations," describes the investor Angel Douglas Wong last year.

Almost 70 percent of Czech angel investors invest in syndicates or prefer them. Nevertheless, there are still a quarter of respondents who do not invest in syndicates. One of the main advantages of grouping into syndicates is portfolio diversification with lower required capital and lower time requirements. "I perceive the advantages of syndications in the distribution of risk, in the accumulation of a larger amount of investment than individual investors would be able to cover, and in the greater know-how that comes to a company with more investors," says angel investor Martin Rozhoň.

More than half of the respondents were interested in startups that focus on financial technology (fintech). This trend was subsequently confirmed at the global level. According to the EY fintech report from 2019, between 2015 and 2019, the adoption of fintech products increased from 16% to 64%. The pandemic undoubtedly accelerated it all further. Another of the most popular industries was online shopping.

At the same time, angel investors in the previous survey admitted that investing is not always going smoothly. 70 percent of them admitted to have a bad experience with investing in startups. The most common and generally common problem that investors face is the failure of the startup followed by bad relationships with the founders. Some investors then reported a bad experience with remote investing, to which they had to adapt during the pandemic. "We believe that many of the potential risks can be reduced. We know from our experience that a quality community of angel investors with various experiences can often do more than a large VC fund,” adds Michal Ciffra, partner of DEPO Ventures.