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AngelList is a US platform on which startups are financed via a syndicate structure. The founders of the respective syndicate ensure dealflow and syndicate financing rounds in startups to which they have access. Funding rounds for the hottest startups are conducted here regularly.

Even now, after seven years, AngelList is conducting another round of funding - at a very high valuation of $4 billion. This makes AngelList perhaps the crowd investing platform with the highest rating worldwide. The information is sparse - and yet I decided to invest $2k here as well.

A total of $100 million fresh capital was raised. The valuation is (absurdly) high - measured by the absolute company value of $4 billion. But Tiger Global is also considered one of the best venture capitalists worldwide. So if Tiger Global and Accomplice lead this round of funding, they expect a good return over the long term.

As said, the facts about AngelList are sparse. What is known are some data points from 2021 directly from AngelList. There is also an article by TechCrunch for the financing round.

One way to evaluate AngelList is to look at their commission on completed financing rounds: For investors not coming from the syndicate lead's direct network, AngelList receives 5% carry fee on the profits of the investment (out of a total of 20% carry fees, which the investor pays on profits). AngelList as a platform therefore remains 1/4 of the carry fees (on part of the capital raised). In total, AngelList has raised over $10 billion in capital since it was founded, and $3.6 billion of this in 2021 alone. The capital raised has flowed into startups and funds. The fees and carry structure for funds may differ from those described above. Simplified representation: Let's assume that AngelList will have raised capital of $20 billion in 1-2 years and the typical exit multiple is 5x as with a very good VC fund: Then the profit from the investments would be $80 billion. on which AngelList receives carry of 5%. Value of these carry fees: $4 billion
This view is optimistic and an overly simplified. But it shows why an overall valuation of AngelList of $4 billion does not have to be completely exaggerated. My opinion: The democratization of start-up investments will continue, and the overall market will continue to grow.

More than half of all US top-tier VC deals can be found on AngelList. In addition, 2 million people apply to AngelList startups every quarter via "AngelList Talent" (cf. TechCrunch). According to the said article, AngelList is currently growing very fast. Founder Naval Ravikant is known as a visionary and I have no doubt that AngelList will continue to positively transform the startup investment landscape.

It is also clear that the sales multiples of startups and scale-ups in later rounds of financing are currently under massive pressure and must decrease because the key interest rate in the USA is rising. This means that the AngelList rating can also come under pressure and a down-round (round with a lower rating) may be necessary later. There are many risks. But I want to be on board with AngelList. I believe in the platform and that's why I decided to invest.

In case you still want to get into this one, you will need to be quick. First syndicates have already closed their rounds. The syndicate of Flucas Ventures/ Rob Ness and Kube VC may still have room in their allocation. If you write to the syndicate lead, you may get the opportunity for an exclusive link with a smaller minimum investment amount starting from $1k (instead of the standard/ displayed minimum of $5k).