Angels Den notches up £10m in deals as pitches lure investors

ANGELS Den, an online "dating agency" linking start-up firms to wealthy investors, has announced it is on its way to recording upwards of £10 million in deals in its first year of business in Scotland.

The company said its bottom line would be further boosted by talks with TIGA, the trade body representing the UK's independent and in-house publisher owned games industry.

TIGA has called on Angels Den to help in its commercial activities of the Dundee/Abertay University end of operations and a meeting is planned for this week.

Angels Den was set up in 2007 by Bill Morrow, the former chief executive of Morgan Chase, and launched itself in Scotland at the turn of this year.

It plans an entrepreneurial "speedfunding" event on 13 May in Glasgow when up to six companies covering the recording industry, child safety products and sports training will present to potential investors.

Cameron Thomson, the Scottish regional director, said the event was part of more than 3,000 individual entrepreneur-to-angel pitches occurring a year throughout the UK.

Thomson confidently predicted that in Scotland each business quarter is expected to produce a minimum of 2m, and probably more, in deals during the course of 2010.

The former banker claimed that Angels Den is stealing a march on other business angel firms because of its internet-based offering, including video conferencing and webinar activities.

"We had an event in Singapore where a particular deal caught the eye of an investor in Portugal. There are no boundaries and so expect a real international flavour to the west of Scotland get-together."

He added: "We are changing the way people fund suitable investment opportunities. It's all about gathering together the latest and greatest business ideas in one place and presenting them to people serious about making equity."

The firm has signed up record numbers of wealthy individuals seeking higher returns on their investments after becoming frustrated with low or even negative returns on mainstream investments in savings or shares.

To qualify, investors require to show at least 250,000 of available capital to invest directly into start-up or early-stage enterprises. The average size of a deal is 220,000.