We recently posted about incredible opportunities we’re seeing to invest in Israeli startups, and it got us wondering what angel groups in other parts of the world have been seeing.
To get some more color on the Boston tech scene, we went directly to the source. We had the chance to talk to Richard Lucash, a Boston-based attorney for emerging tech companies, about deal flow in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Richard co-founded the LaunchPad angel group and, with Jeff Stoler, recently launched a new angel group called SideCar Angels

What’s deal flow like in Boston?

In Boston, most angel group deals are syndicated.  The area is the national leader in doing angel syndications.  As part of this syndication effort, members of multiple groups may take part in due diligence.  SideCar is focusing on facilitating deals by filling out syndicated rounds.

How do you generate deal flow?

A large percentage of our deal flow comes from Boston area angel groups and micro VCs, however, often the companies approach us directly.

What types of deals have you been seeing?

We see a lot of e-commerce, medical device, web tech and clean energy.  When asked about the frequency of opportunities in the life sciences sector, Lucash noted not seeing too many deals of that sort, hypothesizing that it is due to the requirement of a large amount of startup capital.

In your opinion, how is angel investing different today in comparison to when you first started?

Since I became involved with angel investing, there has been a very large increase in the number of organized groups, and a trend towards greater organization on matters such as screening, review and negotiation of deal terms.  Many groups have added funds associated with the group, and more groups have full time managers.

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Lucash’s perspective on investing in startups is not too different from OurCrowd’s. We’re also seeing a lot of Internet-powered deals because they’re typically easier and cheaper than say, a life sciences startup, to get a minimum viable product shipped. Anyway, thanks Richard for answering our questions.

 

Jeremy Pressman
Business Analyst
Jeremy Pressman is a Business Analyst at OurCrowd and plays semi-professional basketball for Hapoel Pisgat Ze’ev.