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The purpose of the paper is to analyze the development of business angel networks (BANs) in emerging countries such as Chile and Colombia to understand how institutions affect their development.

This is a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive study based on a comparative analysis between countries, with the BANs in Chile and Colombia as the unit of observation. The comparative analysis was made in relation with the creation, operation and sustainability of the BANs. The study interviews the partners/managers of the active networks in each of the countries, as well as key informants, totalling 12 interviews.

BAN activity in Chile and Colombia is quite recent, and the countries are on a similar level of development. However, in the long term, depending on how the cultural aspects evolve in both countries and the interest that the State may have in developing business angel activity, the results could be indeed different.

Business angel activity in Latin America is quite recent; nevertheless, this activity is increasing in the region. In that sense, this comparative analysis between Colombia and Chile contributes to a better understanding of business angel markets in Latin America and also to obtain better insights into the core challenges that these markets face in emerging countries due to the existence of institutional voids. This paper is a contribution for further knowledge of BANs in emerging countries’ economies from an institutional perspective.

The main aim of this article is to widen one's understanding of the value‐added contributions of business angels and, more specifically, their role as facilitators for further finance.

This article is based on in‐depth case studies of five experienced business angels. Data were collected by using a loosely structured interview guide which focused on the investment process.

Business angels add value besides the initial financial capital offered, typically in the form of strategic advice and networking. However, previous research has to a small extent examined the role of business angels as facilitators for further finance. The empirical findings in this study indicate that experienced business angels play a key role in order to facilitate further finance. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should bear in mind that the previous track record of the business angel strongly affects if and how they can facilitate further finance. Thus, active business angels can be viewed as a part of the entrepreneurial team, hence reducing the “liability of newness” for the entrepreneurial firm.

Future research should continue to examine business angels by using insight from social capital theory. Moreover, by using larger samples the findings from this exploratory study can be tested, thus getting more reliable results to extend one's knowledge about how business angels act as facilitators for further finance.

This study suggests that concepts from social capital theory seem to be viable when examining how business angels work when they are securing further finance for their portfolio firms.

Entrepreneurship is the basis of economic development but is somehow limited by the lack of access to financing sources, especially in the crucial moments of start-up early-stage development. For crossing the so-called “valley of death,” start-ups need to access informal finance sources, such as business angels. This study aims at defining the profile of business angels and comparing it with the existing literature.

A novel methodology for sampling the business angles population has been used, which extracts data from online social media networks. This allows taking a closer look at informal sources of entrepreneurial finance. A total of 500 real business angels, acting worldwide, from the LinkedIn and Crunchbase databases has been retrieved for this study.

Results point out that younger investors seem to be entering the entrepreneurial informal finance market. They are mainly males between 40 and 50 years of age, with a previous entrepreneurial record, and more highly educated than previously stated. They tend to have studies from Business Administration and Economics, although they prefer to invest in the ICT sector.

Besides the novel data retrieval technique for analyzing the informal sources of finance, the originality of the work lies in updating the archetype for business angels.

Concern about the equity gap in the UK has existed for more than 60 years. Despite various government measures and institutional responses (e.g. the development of a venture capital industry) an equity gap still persists. Current debate has recognized the role of the informal venture capital market as a source of risk capital for SMEs. Argues that this market is both inefficient and underdeveloped, due largely to information deficiencies which hinder contact between potential investors and entrepreneurs seeking finance. Against this background, identifies the role of business angel networks (BANs) as a key means of stimulating the flow of informational venture capital in the UK. In particular, a government scheme to provide pump‐priming assistance to establish five local BAN demonstration projects is shown to have achieved impressive results. However, with the recent emergence of a number of private sector BANs, the continued role of government is now being questioned. Further demonstrates that public sector BANs, operating on a local scale, are filling a different market niche from that of private sector BANs, which operate predominantly on a national scale. Concludes that the top priority for policy is to ensure that all parts of the UK are served by local BANs. An appropriate way forward might be to build on experimental networking arrangements between local, public sector BANs and national, privately operated BANs.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the characteristics of high net worth individuals (HNWI) as potential angel investor in Antofagasta, the main mining resource periphery in Chile.

Using the resource periphery approach and angel investing, the authors apply a survey to a sample of 37 HNWI in this region. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics.

Descriptive results show that the characteristics of these individuals do not significantly differ from those exhibited by angel investors in developed countries and that HNWI show a relative high willingness to become angels and to form a network.

This paper has some limitations regarding the size and scope of the sample. It is a relatively short sample that does not allow to make more sophisticated analysis and it is only regional and, therefore, it is not possible to make a comparison at a national level.

From the perspective the design of policies and programmes oriented towards the promotion of a high potential start-ups in resources peripheries, it is essential to know what the characteristics of HNWI are and their propensity to become angel investors.

Research on angel investment has been traditionally based on the experience of core regions in developed countries. This type of funding source, however, can play a significant role in the promotion of development and diversification in resource peripheries due to the limited access that these areas have to traditional capital funds and the orientation of angel investment towards innovative ventures, but studies from this perspective are very scarce. In this sense, this paper is pioneer in this topic in peripheral regions.

El objetivo de este artículo es identificar y analizar las características de las personas con alto patrimonio neto como potenciales inversionistas ángeles en Antofagasta, la principal fuente de recursos minerales en la periferia de Chile.

A través del enfoque de las periferias de los recursos naturales y la inversión ángel, se aplicó una encuesta a una muestra de 37 personas con alto patrimonio neto en esta región. La información recogida fue analizada usando estadística descriptiva.

Los resultados muestran que las características de estas personas no difieren significativamente de los inversionistas ángeles en países desarrollados y muestran un fuerte deseo de ser inversionistas ángeles y formar una red.

Este artículo presenta algunas limitaciones en relación al tamaño y el alcance de la muestra. Es una muestra relativamente pequeña y no permite realizar análisis más sofisticados y es solo a nivel regional y, por lo tanto, no es posible comparar a nivel nacional.

Desde la perspectiva del diseño de políticas públicas y programas orientadas a la promoción de empresas de alto potencial de crecimiento en las periferias de recursos naturales, es esencial conocer las características de las personas con alto patrimonio neto y su propensión a convertirse en inversionistas ángeles.

La investigación sobre inversión ángel ha estado tradicionalmente enfocada en la experiencia de las regiones centrales de los países desarrollados. Sin embargo, esta alternativa de financiamiento puede jugar un rol preponderante en la promoción del desarrollo y la diversificación en las periferias de recursos naturales debido al limitado acceso a fuentes de capital tradicionales y la orientación de la inversión ángel hacia emprendimientos innovadores en estas regiones. Los estudios desde esta perspectiva son muy escasos. En este sentido, este artículo es pionero en la investigación de la inversión ángel en las regiones periféricas de recursos naturales.

The lack of a standard definition and data sources makes it hard to compare findings and advance our knowledge in the business angel’s domain. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this problem by presenting a proposal of a potential definition of business angels that it based on ten issues identified in 30 years of business angels’ research.

The paper reviews 24 studies on business angels and classifies definition inconsistencies found in ten different issues. Those differences are compared with methodological choices on sampling and with subsequent results.

The authors observe a connection between definitional and sampling choices, and the results obtained. Inconsistent definitions can lead to results that are more than 400 times higher in terms of investment per project, for example.

The authors believe that the main implication of proposing a standard definition of business angles could help the academia in decreasing the great observed diversity which is actually leading to inconsistent and incomparable results that limit our understanding of this phenomenon.

This paper differs from previous studies as it tackles the problem by identifying the definitional issues and presents a framework in order to build a consensus definition, rather than just comparing definitions.

Entrepreneurial businesses often face financial and experiential gaps, which can constrain their growth. Business angels (BAs) can provide sources of financial, human and social capital to overcome these gaps. Building on the work by Munck and Saublens, this paper aims to introduce a framework that seeks to provide a detailed understanding of the benefits that BAs can bring to the firms in which they invest.

In order to obtain a detailed understanding of the benefits that BAs bring to their investee companies, semi‐structured, in‐depth telephone interviews were conducted from an investee perspective. The key managers of nine angel‐funded companies were purposefully selected and the transcribed interviews analysed with the help of common qualitative analysis techniques.

According to investee managers, BAs provide benefits in all four areas of the proposed framework. Specifically, BAs: help overcome funding gaps; fill knowledge/experience gaps through provision of their own expertise and involvement; provide a wide range of contacts and leverage further funding, including their own follow‐on finance.

The anonymous nature of the BA market requires convenience sampling, which, in addition to the small sample size used, does not allow for generalisability. The use of telephone interviews instead of face‐to‐face interviews did not allow for observation of non‐verbal cues. Nevertheless, the study identified various areas in need of further research.

In‐depth interview data enabled a detailed exploration of the financial and non‐financial benefits of BA funding from an under‐utilised investee perspective. The paper's main value, however, lies in establishing the usefulness of a framework showing BAs' benefits in a structured manner.