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NACO was formed in 2001 to help Angels to mitigate their risk and enhance their returns by:
- Organizing into groups, networks and funds to pool industry-specific expertise and contacts, to screen deals, and to invest in concert;
- Adopting best practices and lessons learned and evolving them;
- Promoting tax credits for the deployment of Angel capital (the IPTC);
- Co-investing in larger groups and/or alongside sidecar funds set up by government and others;
- Improving the understanding of Angels' role among policymakers, the media and the public.
With the help of our sponsors, we host annual National Angel Summits, as well as occasional Co-Investment Summits, Co-Investment Dinners, webinars, and workshops. With the help of our partners, we are building a national network of referrals and expertise to help our community of Angels thrive. And with the help of our members, we are building an ever-more-informative presence on the Internet.
We currently focus on three major endeavours:
- Our membership benefits for Angel groups, networks, funds, individuals and stakeholders, which provide preferred access to Angel-specific expertise, co-investment opportunities and our sponsors’ discounted services;
- Our Summits, which convene Canada’s leading Angels, policymakers and the media to enjoy expert panels, co-invest in selected growing companies, hear world-class speakers, vote on the best of the best Angels and entrepreneurs, and network;
- Our growing compendium of the latest news, research, discussions, best practices and lessons learned, which can make Angel investing much less risky and more rewarding for everyone.
Our goal is to increase the quantity, quality and success of Angel investments, which would create a greater pool of capital for Canada’s innovative start-up companies. As matters stand, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor ranks Canada 9th of 18 countries when measuring informal investment. The US is estimated to have 53% more Angel investors per capita than Canada. Yet we do not lack for potential – up to 1.1 million Canadian families have a level of wealth that would technically qualify them to invest as Angels.
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