Angel networks, syndicates and EIS funds: the other ways in, and how Find sits alongside them
What each route gives a certified investor, what it costs, the trade-offs in control and deal flow, and how experienced angels combine them.
Direct investment through a platform like Find is one route. There are three others, and most experienced UK angels use more than one. Knowing what each gives — and charges — lets you build a mix that suits the time you have and the control you want.
Angel networks
Membership organisations — regional (North West, Yorkshire, Scotland, the south-west), sector (medtech, fintech), or university-linked — that run pitch events, circulate deals to members and sometimes run diligence. Membership typically £300–£1,500 a year; some charge founders a success fee too. What you get: curated deal flow, other angels to invest alongside, and six months of membership satisfies one limb of the sophisticated-investor test. What you give: time at events and a membership fee whether you invest or not. Best for: investors who want company, and a local community of deals.
Syndicates
A lead angel or small firm sources a deal, does the work, sets the terms and invites a group in — often through a nominee or an SPV so the company has one shareholder rather than thirty. Fees: sometimes a carry (10–20% of the profit on exit), sometimes a set-up fee per deal, sometimes nothing if the lead is simply filling a round they are in. What you get: a lead's diligence and terms for a small cheque. What you give: control (the nominee votes), some economics, and dependence on the lead's judgement. Best for: small cheques into deals you could not access alone.
EIS and SEIS funds
A manager raises a pool and invests it across 10–30 companies, with relief flowing through to you on each. Minimum subscriptions from £10,000; fees 1.5–2.5% a year plus performance fees; your money deployed over 12–24 months. What you get: spread, a professional picking, no work. What you give: fees that take a meaningful slice of the upside, no say in which companies, and a five-to-eight-year lock. Best for: the base of a portfolio, or for investors who want the relief and not the involvement.
Direct, through Find
You choose the company, the cheque and the terms (or the lead's terms). No fee to you. Full information — documents, Companies House data, the founder's video and Q&A — before you commit, and you start the conversation. What you give: your own time on diligence, and the responsibility of the decision. Best for: investors who know a sector and want to back businesses in it, and for income deals — loan notes and buy-outs — that networks and funds rarely carry.
How angels combine them
A common shape: an EIS fund for spread and relief with no effort; a network for community and local deal flow; Find for direct cheques in sectors the investor knows, and for the yield deals. Syndicates where a trusted lead is in a deal the investor could not otherwise reach. The mix shifts with time available — more direct when you have it, more fund when you do not.
Questions investors ask
"Can I be in a network and use Find?"
Of course. Many listings on Find come to investors who then bring their network in. Find's rules ask only that each investor certifies in their own name.
"Are fund returns better than direct?"
Funds deliver the average with the fees taken off. Direct investors with an edge in a sector beat the average; direct investors without one do worse. Be honest about which you are.
"A syndicate lead wants 20% carry on a £15k cheque."
Carry of 10–20% on profit is common. Check there is no fee on the way in as well, and that you see the same terms the lead has.