Accelerating Angels

Accelerating Angels is based in Dublin, Ohio, and invests in early-stage, high-growth, women-owned businesses building technology products and services. It describes its target companies as ones solving big problems with an impact meant to last decades.

Who joins

Membership is by invitation, extended to qualifying individuals, and the network is unusual in admitting both accredited and non-accredited investors.

That second group is the distinctive part. American securities rules bar non-accredited investors from most private deals, which in practice locks people out of learning how the activity works until they already have the money. Accelerating Angels runs a tier for them anyway.

How membership works

Three routes, each priced differently and published.

Sidecar Angels pay US$1,000 a year. These are accredited investors who take part in deals pitched to the network.

Aspiring Angels pay US$250 a year. This tier is for non-accredited members and carries education, networking, access to pitch events and committee participation, but not the ability to invest.

Fund investors pay no annual dues at all, because the management fees are built into the fund itself. That is a cleaner arrangement than paying dues and fees separately, and it suits someone who wants exposure without picking companies.

Members in the dues-paying tiers also receive Angel Capital Association membership benefits automatically, which is a genuine addition given ACA's education library and model documents.

What members get

Deal access and investment opportunities for accredited members, and for everyone the pitch events, education and committee work.

The committee route deserves a mention. Sitting on a screening or diligence committee is how you actually learn to assess companies, and offering that to non-accredited members turns a US$250 fee into a real apprenticeship rather than a newsletter subscription.

For a family office, two things stand out. The fund route gives exposure to a specific thesis without staff time. And the Aspiring Angels tier is one of the few legitimate ways to put a younger family member, who may not yet qualify as accredited in their own right, inside a working investment process.