Houston Angel Network

The Houston Angel Network is a non-profit angel investing group based in downtown Houston. It screens early-stage companies, presents a shortlist to its membership at monthly selection meetings and roughly ten pitch events a year, and lets individual members decide whether to invest their own capital in each deal. Membership is open only to accredited investors under SEC Regulation D, and there is no minimum investment attached to joining. The group publishes two membership levels, individual and family, each carrying an annual due and a one-off initiation fee. Members get access to the group's deal-management platform, can join screening committees and due-diligence teams, and attend the network's education and networking events. HAN reports that its members have invested more than $100 million across more than 400 deals since 2001, which makes it one of the longer-running and higher-volume angel groups in the United States. Sector interest spans technology, consumer, health and life sciences, and energy, reflecting the Houston economy.

Как это работает

Companies apply through the group's Dealum deal room and are screened by member committees. Selected companies pitch at monthly selection meetings and at about ten pitch events each year. Members who are interested form due-diligence teams, and each member then invests individually; the network itself does not hold a fund or take a carry on member investments.

Типичный участник

Members are accredited investors as defined in SEC Regulation D. The group draws heavily on Houston's energy, technology and health/life-sciences communities, and members invest their own money deal by deal rather than through a pooled fund.

HAN is unusually transparent about price: both dues levels and the initiation fee are published on the membership page, which is rare among US angel groups. The explicit statement that no minimum investment is required makes it more accessible than groups such as Sand Hill Angels or Hyde Park Angels, which expect a minimum annual deployment. The trade-off is that a group without a deployment requirement can carry members who attend but rarely write cheques, which dilutes the pooled-diligence advantage. It suits accredited investors already in Houston who want deal flow and structured screening without committing to a fund. It is a poor fit for passive investors, for anyone outside Texas, and for those who want a manager to allocate on their behalf, since every investment decision remains the member's own.

Редакционный анализ: Peer Group Guide editors. Отделено от записи выше и следует за редакционная политика.