There have been 11 angel investments worth an aggregate EUR 43 million targeting companies based in Western Europe announced in January 2019, according to Zephyr, the M&A database published by Bureau van Dijk. While value in the opening weeks of 2019 represents the lowest recorded result since August 2016 (EUR 34 million) there are still seven more days to go until the end of the month, suggesting there is time for a small number of sizeable angel investments to be made which could help boost value for the month under review. However, it does look unlikely that both volume and value will reach the 83 deals worth an aggregate EUR 251 million recorded in January 2017. While value in January 2019 is disappointing when compared to December and January of 2017, the figure represents 8 per cent of angel investment globally as 50 deals worth an EUR 573 million have been announced worldwide over the last three weeks.
Angel investment activity targeting Western Europe is off to a slow start following a record-breaking year in 2018, as each month recorded value of more than EUR 100 million, totalling EUR 2,758 million for the entire 12-month period (2017: EUR 1,942 million). However, December did represent a decline of 49 per cent on November as EUR 193 million-worth of deals were announced, compared to EUR 381 million a month earlier. That being said, Q4 2018 ended higher than Q3 with 146 deals worth EUR 762 million, up by value from 152 deals worth EUR 697 million quarter-on-quarter.
On a global scale, the value of angel investment improved when compared to December, despite there still being seven days until the end of the month, as 50 deals worth a combined EUR 573 million were recorded in January 2019, compared to 98 deals worth EUR 569 million in December. The increase in value against the decline in volume suggests angels favoured single deals with higher individual valuations over prolific dealmaking in the year-to-date. Like angel investment in Western Europe, despite there being seven days to go until the end of January, global investment in 2019 looks unlikely to exceed January 2018, when 214 deals worth EUR 1,336 million were announced. The largest of these deals signed off in January 2019 was worth EUR 159 million and involved Bakkt Holdings, a US-based cryptocurrency and digital assets provider, receiving cash from the Boston Consulting Group, Horizons Ventures, Galaxy Digital Entertainment and angel investor Angel Howard. The second-largest deal globally involves Sachin Bansal injecting EUR 87 million into Indian online mobile taxi booking platform ANI Technologies. The highest-placed Western European was eighth globally as SCA Investments, a UK-based online food boxes delivery service, received EUR 20 million from “Lean In 15” cookbook writer and lifestyle and fitness coach Joe Wicks, as well as Hargreave Hale, MMC Ventures and Angel CoFund, among others.
For Western European targets of angel investors in January 2019, this deal represented the largest by far and away as the second-biggest deal was worth just over a quarter of this amount, at EUR 6 million, as angel investors, Felix Capital Partners, Cassius Capital and Cherry Ventures Management injected capital into UK-based Menwell.
One deal stood out in the month under review as it was the only one to target a Belgium-based group. This deal involved five individual angels making a EUR 1 million investment in online live or distance learning software-as-a-service provider Wooclap. This deal is one of 98 announced angel investments to target Belgian companies since the start of 2006. The largest of these was worth EUR 65 million and took the form of a series B funding round by iTeos Therapeutics, involving business angels, MPM Capital and Curative Ventures, among others.
In conclusion, January 2019 has started slowly, compared to a record-breaking year in 2018; however, is too early to see what this means for the remaining 11 months of 2019. Only time will tell if investment levels will increase in 2019; as angel investment has improved over the last two consecutive years, 2019 could ultimately surpass 2018.
© Zephyr
One angel investment deal targeted a Belgium-based company in January
