On Monday, venture capitalists at Foundry Group had decided to act on an initiative directed to admit more than the usual foundations and university endowments to the VC clubhouse.
AngelList was allowed last week through a change in federal regulations to let listed companies and their backers to publicly solicit funding, said a Reuters report. This unwrapped a program that Foundry Group and others had embraced. AngelList is a website that had been connecting startups with potential investors since 2010. Among its investors are Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo Inc, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
The syndicates had allowed one angel investor to lead a group of accredited investors to back firms that list themselves on the site as companies looking for funds. Meanwhile, an angel investor is typically an affluent person who provides capital for startup firms. Accredited investors are those with net worth of USD1 million or more, not including their homes. No money would be given until the startup is selected for funding.
Currently, there are more than 300 syndicates listed on AngelList, said a report from Reuters. Kevin Rose, Digg co-founder, had already raised his commitments valued USD1.4 million while Path founder Dave Morin raised USD963000.
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