Foundational trends in angel investing and networks across emerging markets
The Emerging Markets Angel Study, developed by Briter Intelligence in partnership with the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) , looks at the evolving landscape of early-stage investing across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Built on proprietary Briter data, this report examines the role of angel networks in driving entrepreneurship and bridging funding gaps across emerging markets, highlighting their motivations, investment behaviours, and ecosystem challenges.
Key insights include:
- Angels and angel networks play a critical role in high-risk environments where venture capital activity remains nascent, often serving as the first institutional capital for local startups.
- Investment activity is concentrated in urban and tech-driven hubs, but there’s growing diversification into secondary cities and traditional sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing.
- Cross-border investment is on the rise, with a small but active group of angels backing founders outside their home countries.
- Support beyond capital from Angels includes mentorship, network access, and strategic guidance. These remain a defining feature of angel involvement in early-stage ecosystems.
- Limited exits and liquidity constraints remain key barriers, highlighting the need for blended finance instruments and structured syndicates to sustain angel activity.
Whether you’re a founder, investor, or development institution, this study provides a data-backed view of how angel investing operates in the context of emerging economies, and how local and global stakeholders can unlock its potential for inclusive growth.
As a leading business intelligence platform for emerging markets, Briter continues to map investment trends across key sectors and investor categories, offering tools such as Briter Intelligence for real-time funding data and AgBase for agriculture-focused insights.
