Angels are community-based investors that take a “leap of faith” on entrepreneurs before institutional investors, such as venture capital funds. Angel investors fuel the “scale-up” pipeline that flows into the venture capital industry by putting capital-at-risk in local communities. As the main source of early-stage capital for Canada’s entrepreneurs, angel investors play a vital role in the development of local entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing funding, mentorship, and access to client networks. Over the past ten years, NACO’s angel investor members have invested over $1 billion into Canadian companies. At the writing of this report, there were no formal Angel Groups or NACO members in Yukon. We know that the Yukon angel investment ecosystem is currently fragmented and unstructured, and that early- stage companies often go unfunded, remain under-capitalized and never reach their full potential. Creating a strong and impactful angel investor community in Yukon will require participation from across several key stakeholder groups, including both the private and public sectors. A diverse and active angel investor community can stimulate economic development through increased private investment capital into early-stage Yukon companies to help them start, scale, and thrive. On thesupply side, improving theflowof investment capital, investment education, and management expertise into high-potential companies will increase both the number of investors that are empowered to invest in Yukon entrepreneurs, and also the amount of capital available for investment. On the demand side, the focus is on those who want to start and grow businesses that create prosperity and improve lives in their communities. Optimizing the balance between supply of investment capital and demand for investment into entrepreneurial companies is critical.
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MOBILIZING ANGEL ACTIVITY IN YUKON
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