The Transformation of the Business Angel Market: Implications for research and practice

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Time: 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Venue: Room 3022, Kingston Business School, Kingston Hill campus, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7LB
Price: free

Speaker: Professor Colin Mason
Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow

Abstract: Scholars are often slow to react to changes in the ‘real' word. This dilutes the relevance of their research. A current example of a research domain that is undergoing change which is not reflected in research outputs is the nature of the business angel market. Business angels have been shown to be a critical source of risk capital for start-ups and early stage businesses, representing the first step on the funding escalator after firms have exhausted ‘3F' sources of money. As most business angels were typically either successful entrepreneurs or held senior positions in large businesses they were also able to provide their investee companies with valuable hands-on support. Until recently the angel market was fragmented and largely invisible, with individual angels investing on their own or in ad hoc groups and anonymously. They found their investment opportunities through their social and business networks. The angel market is now increasingly characterised by visible angel groups, often professionally managed, which corals the investments of individual angels to make larger investments. The group manager now takes over many of the activities that individual angels performed, notably the screening of investment opportunities, and the decision of individuals to invest is now increasingly a collective one. Scholars have largely ignored this change. Our understanding of angel investing therefore continues to be based on an increasingly outdated model. This presentation will examine the nature and extent of this transformation, the drivers, and the consequences in terms of access to finance. The conclusion will consider the implications for angel research, highlighting new research questions that need to be addressed, and what it means for practice and policy.

About the speaker: Colin Mason is Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. He previously held a Chair in the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Strathclyde and before that was at the University of Southampton. He has degrees from the University of Edinburgh (MA Hons), University of Manchester (PhD) and has held visiting positions at universities in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. His research and teaching are in the areas of entrepreneurship and regional development. His specific research interest is in entrepreneurial finance. He has written extensively on business angel investing and has been closely involved with government and private sector initiatives to promote informal venture capital, both in the UK and elsewhere. He has recently undertaken research on high growth firms and on technology firms in Scotland on behalf of Scottish Enterprise. He is the founding editor of the Journal Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance and Consulting Editor of the International Small Business Journal, and in the Editorial Boards of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Journal of Enterprising Communities Small Enterprise, Research Annals of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Social Business.

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Contact: Dr. Hang Do
Tel: 0208 417 5527
Email: H.Do@kingston.ac.uk