"AVOID, AVOID, AVOID"

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID. Use at your own risk or you will lose hundreds of pounds, maybe more. I do not normally give reviews but I believe my experience is so NEGATIVE that I should warn others.

Last year 2019 I decided to use Angel Investment Network for a fundraise. They promised a FULL refund if no response was received. So I went ahead.

This was not cheap I went for:
Global Pro £249
Privacy feature £29
Featured Exposure £199
Plus nudges at £49 each.

Within 10 days or so I received some downloads all looked good.
However, upon chasing up these so called 'Investors' it became clear that these were consultants posing as investors or invalid contact details.

I was then contacted by a High Net Worth Individual from Thailand who sent me a detailed CV and credentials he assured me he wanted to invest the full sum £350K in my business and after weeks of negotiation sent through a Term Sheet. I was about to instruct my legal team. But when I asked the so called 'Investor' for proof of ID that's when everything went quiet.

On further research it turns out that this individual was masquerading as a genuine Thai businessman. I contacted the genuine High net worth individual and as it turns out he HAD NOT contacted me to invest. Indeed his name was being used by fraudsters. I passed the details of the fraudster to the institutional bank that he was on the board of and they forwarded to cyber security who informed me that they had issues in the past with fraudsters using his name for SCAMS.

Following this I contacted Angel Investment Network who informed me there was nothing they could do, apart from offering free nudges. NO REFUND.

I warn everyone that this platform is plagued by fraudsters. So, after paying through the nose you may also be SCAMMED of your bank details and your identity stolen. This is a FACT and I have all communications to prove it.

Of course Angel Investment Network will say this is an isolated incident but I have had discussions with other users and this is simply not the case. As many of the reviews on Trustpilot state this is NOT worth the money.

Sites such as:
Pop Up Worlds Investor Connector
Crowdcube
Seedrs and many others either have a LOW entry fee or charge after the fundraise. Start-ups should be wary of anyone charging £300+ upfront to list on an open platform.

Angel Investment Network will say that there is nothing they can do about scammers but they are more than happy to take the money of struggling start-ups. Shame on you.

I am still waiting for a full refund from Angel Investment Network.

"Very bad platform, do not recommend."

Since signing up to the website and paying over £200 I received 'impressions' that seem to be fake and an email from a guy in India who sounds like a bit of a scam. The site is not responsible for the credibility of the investors and I received fake impressions and no proof that my pitch has been 'boosted'. Once you pay, I received no communications just general newsletters. Would not use again.They claim the contacted me but never did, a good example of the scam you will be vulnerable is a Thai :"Investor" that contacted me and tried to scam me thanks to this platform.

"Best network for any venture to raise funds, even at ideation phase."

I can't believe some of the cancerous reviews some people are posting about Angel Investment Network on TrustPilot. Anyway, this is my true experience with this platform, which is basically a large conglomerate of angel investors. When I initially started raising funds across different platforms (won't take their names), most of them didn't entertain ventures at ideation phase (some didn't entertain even at Prototype phase). I was in utmost despair and starting to give hope on raising investment. Then one Friday night, I approached the AIN platform out of nowhere. I was prompted to enter and answer a lot of questions (Pitch deal, team overview, keywords, documents, and images). I entered them because I was just that desperate to raise investment. But here came the pain stimulant. I was required to pay seemingly a bit too much (for me, it was definitely a lot at that time) to get the pitch out. I researched on different platforms like TrustPilot and saw a lot of toxic comments therein. I felt battered; however, I felt I got to do this or my venture will die sooner than later. It was a big big gamble, but I made up my mind that night and paid for the Pro package. For two days, there was no response. I felt broke. After contacting their platform, an expert told me that the algorithm takes some time to process the mailout to matching investors (investors in the same line as your business concept). I waited and waited. After three days, I was absolutely shocked to receive an Email that read, "An invested has expressed interest on my pitch." I contacted him right away and in within 30 minutes, I had a phone meeting with him. The meeting went well, but I couldn't quite crack the deal despite the best of my efforts. Five hours later, I got another investor interested on this platform, and boy! This guy became an investor for my project in matter of two weeks and I received a cheque of size about twelve times the money I put in to get Pro package. In the very first week, I acquired another investor. I felt like the earth was shaking. My venture had been resuscitated. However, the investments were just not enough to meet the aggressive funding requirements.

I was scrolling through this platform's newsfeed one day and I saw some pitches were getting Investor contacts every 5-10 minutes. I was downright shocked. How??

I had a look at package options and I took a look at the "Executive Package", which is the most expensive one. Reading further, I got to know the power of Executive Mailout. Executive Mailout basically sends your pitch in an attractive format as mail to all the investors who are registered in your network. I was immediately incentivized. I opted for the Executive Package without second thoughts. An expert came in and even prepared my draft for how my pitch will be shown to the investors on mail. I asked for some changes to which the expert responded promptly. Finally, I approved the draft format and gave him the green signal. The Executive Mailout was processed this Wednesday (15th January, 2020) and boom! I was getting investors at the rate of 7-15 every hour for several hours. In total, I got 43 investors out of which I've already cracked the deal with 6. My funding requirements are almost complete, which at one point looked impossible to attain at ideation phase.

In conclusion, if you're someone who doesn't knows where to start, do your homework and first learn how to write a good pitch. I can tell you that if you do that and approach this platform, you will raise money if you have the gall to talk to an investor straight on phone. And don't worry about the pricing of packages, they're absolutely nothing compared to what you can raise from this platform. I normally recommend entrepreneurs to opt for the Executive Package because it offers you the results right away and is seriously robust and powerful. You won't be able to control the large influx of investors you will get on the day the mailout is processed.

Good luck for your fundraising experience. I gave you the code; AIN is the platform; don't miss this opportunity. All the toxic comments you'll read here are basically those guys who have no idea what is pitch-writing in its true essence, and honestly, it's not at all difficult to learn.

"An excellent site for Investors and businesses"

An excellent site for Investors looking for opportunities and businesses looking for funding.

Some opportunities are stronger than others but it's a great way to showcase your business to the investment community and generate interest.

Like most things in business, you get what you pay for and the options within the site make it an affordable tool for businesses of all sizes looking for investment funding.

"Very limited investor flow"

Only received around 5 messages from investors, even after spending hours uploading materials, and waiting many months. Of course this could be the quality of the pitch, but it has attracted interest elsewhere, and seeing other reviews on this page suggest AIN is not worth the cost & hassle.

Also they have a few technical issues, such as poor pitch layout and difficulty messaging investors on the platform. Wouldn't recommend on balance.

"I have never dealt with a more…"

I have never dealt with a more dysfunctional site. The first three days of my subscription I had of 25 "Error 500" meaning their site literally wont load. How are you supposed to meet investors if the platform is CONSTANTLY DOWN? Waste of money in my opinion.

Not to mention you have to buy your way into the spot light with nudges, or by sponsoring your pitch. This platform became more and more disappointing as time went on.

"AIN delivers results"

AIN delivers results! We found some great investors on their platform. When there is problems (if any) the team are super helpful. We will be doing our next round on their platform for sure!
Highly recommend.

"Successfully raised investment several times"

"I have successfully raised investment with the Angel Investment Network on several occasions, most recently for my company QuizWizards. The process is simple, intuitive and you'll have your proposal complete in just a few hours. Definitely should be part of any entrepreneur's investment toolbox."

"AIN have been vital in helping us raise…"

AIN have been vital in helping us raise a portion of our seed funding round. More importantly we have secured three of our advisors through the network who are already adding enormous amounts of value. Would recommend to anyone raising!

"If you're not buying extras don't bother."

Like many other early stage companies we were hoping that the Angel Investment Network would help us get some traction among serious seed and early-stage investors but it was a complete waste of money. We bought the entry-level paid package costing around £170 and despite a solid deck and thorough company profile, the same deck and profile that have allowed us to attract investment from angels we have approached through our own networks, we received only enough 'interest' from 'angels' to ensure we could not apply for our money back. The only thing we did receive were jazzy and patronising emails from the various 'startup gurus' working for this company.
This company seems to be taking advantage of the large number of businesses seeking to raise but there is no way at all to verify if they have a stable of serious investors to justify the number of clients they are taking on. Not having bought any of the add-on services they tried pitching us I don't know if they are likely to improve the chances of investment so my advice is if you aren't prepared to part with several thousand pounds, you are wasting your money using the Angel Investment Network.