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Band of Angels
Accredited investors who are successful current or former high-technology founders and executives
A profile page holds what the organization publishes and what named sources report: who it admits, what it costs, how it is structured, where it operates, and how it has changed. Every figure carries the date it was checked. A dash means the organization does not publish that fact.
Founding: Founded by Johannes C. (Hans) Severiens, a former nuclear physicist, Wall Street analyst and venture capitalist, who died in February 2004. The first meeting was held with twelve people.
Band of Angels is a Silicon Valley angel investment group founded in 1994 by Hans Severiens and described as the first high-technology-specific angel investment group in the United States. It has more than 150 members, predominantly former and current high-technology executives, and has met monthly without exception since its first gathering of twelve people. The group focuses on seed-stage high-technology and life science companies, and reports funding more than 500 companies with 97 profitable trade sales and 17 initial public offerings over its history. Members invest directly as individuals: there is no pooled capital and no collective vote, though members collaborate on due diligence and share the negotiating leverage of investing alongside one another. Membership requires accredited-investor status, and the group expects members to attend roughly a third of meetings each year, invest in at least one deal annually, contribute to due diligence, share their professional networks and maintain confidentiality. Candidates enter either through sponsorship by an existing member or by attending a Band Deal Dinner, submitting a member information form and meeting the membership committee informally, after which an invitation follows if there is mutual fit.
How it works
Companies pitch at a monthly Band Deal Dinner. Members form due diligence teams and then invest individually in the deals they choose; the Band does not pool capital or vote as a body. New members are recruited either on the sponsorship of an existing member or by attending a dinner as a guest and meeting the membership committee. An affiliated fund vehicle invests alongside the members.
Typical member
Members are typically successful high-technology founders or executives who are accredited investors and interested in mentoring startups. They invest as individuals rather than through a pooled vote.
Membership requirements
Requirements in detail, with history →Requirements are the tests the organization itself publishes: an age ceiling, a company-revenue floor, a net-worth minimum, a role. Where a figure straddles a range, the organization's own assessment decides. Local chapters can apply stricter tests than the published standard.
| Criterion | Published requirement | Provenance |
|---|---|---|
| Accredited-investor status | Members must be accredited investors | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Role or title | Members are generally successful high-technology founders or executives with an interest in mentoring startups | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Other criterion | Members are expected to attend roughly one third of meetings a year, invest in at least one deal annually, take part in due diligence, share their networks and maintain confidentiality | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Sponsorship | Sponsorship by a current member is one of two routes in; the alternative is attending a Band Deal Dinner and applying directly | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
| Invitation | An invitation follows once the membership committee confirms mutual fit | Verified September 2026High confidenceSource ↗ |
Published criteria as verified on the dates shown. Final eligibility and admission decisions belong entirely to Band of Angels. See how you compare against these criteria →
Initiation fees are paid once on joining; dues recur. Chapter dues, retreats, travel and events are usually additional and are listed separately when the organization discloses them. Figures are as published or reported on the date shown, not quotations.
| Cost | First year | Three years | Provenance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual dues | Not publicly disclosed. Band of Angels publishes no membership dues and no reliable third-party figure was found. | ||
Structure and programming
Independent context
Band of Angels is the oldest organised technology angel group in the United States and the most explicitly participation-based in this batch: three published behavioural expectations - attend a third of meetings, invest in a deal a year, work on due diligence - rather than a wealth test alone. That makes it a poor fit for a passive investor and a good one for an operator who wants board and mentoring work. Membership skews heavily toward people who have already run technology companies, which is a genuine screen even though it is not written as a rule. Published figures differ by source and vintage: the Band's own site cites 500-plus companies funded, 97 trade sales and 17 IPOs, while Wikipedia gives USD 186 million into more than 200 startups with 63 acquisitions. Dues are not published anywhere.
Editorial analysis by Peer Group Guide editors. It is separated from the record above and follows the editorial policy.
Similar organizations
Alternatives, grouped by need →Appears in: The best investor networks for an accredited investor
History and changes
Site-wide change log →- milestoneFounded by Hans Severiens with twelve people at the first meeting; described as the first high-technology-specific angel investment group in the United States ↗
- milestoneFounder Hans Severiens dies ↗
Milestones as published by the organization or reported by a named source. “Record” entries are changes to this site’s own record of the organization, kept in the public change log rather than overwritten.
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Sources
- Band of Angels, Band of Angels. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- Year Founded — Band of Angels Fact Sheet, Band of Angels. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 1
- For Angel Investors — Band of Angels, Band of Angels. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 2
- Band of Angels (investors), Wikipedia. Accessed 6 September 2026.tier 8
Source tiers follow the published hierarchy: 1 official site · 2 official membership materials · 3 application documents · 4 annual reports · 5 government filings · 6 reliable business publications · 7 credible interviews · 8 other reputable secondary sources. Sources and data policy.
Is something wrong or out of date?
Represent Band of Angels? Verified representatives can submit corrections to fees, criteria, chapters and contact details, and add approved material. Submissions are reviewed by an editor and shown as organization-supplied; they never overwrite independent research.