The National Angel Capital Organization (NACO) incorporated as a non-profit in 2002 to provide Angel investors with a secure environment to network and learn from their peers, as well as the opportunity to be heard collectively on national issues. By 2006, the NACO has expanded its educational role, included Angel deal flow groups in membership, and been invited into formal advisory roles by several government and non-profit organizations.

The NACO has its roots in informal, private Angels-only investor forums. The secure environment allowed Angels to share ideas and insights with confidence and an expansiveness that would not have been possible otherwise. These early meetings inspired a more ambitious gathering.

Henry Vehovec chaired the first CHIN-UP Angel Investor Golf Invitational in support of children's injured nerve research at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children (May 2001), which gathered more than 100 Angels; this was the largest gathering of Angel investors in Canada at that time. A strong demand to reconvene with an educative, professional development agenda led to a meeting later that year.

The think tank nature of the first Angel Investor Summit (October 2001) produced several independent articles published in national business papers and led to invitations to participate in both federal and provincial economic planning initiatives. Momentum was harnessed through the creation of a market research study conducted together with a panel of a dozen Angel investors and Rotman MBA students (under the direction of Dean Roger Martin). The results of the study were presented at the 2nd Angel Investor Summit in 2002 at which Angels voted overwhelmingly in favour of creating the non-profit NACO.

The NACO promotes a vibrant Angel culture through education and mentoring programs, the formation of collaboration and syndication mechanisms, and influencing policy formation. The NACO’s objective is to increase the quantity, quality, and success of Angel investments, thus creating a greater pool of capital for innovative start-up companies.