Investors' Circle

Investors' Circle - Ideal Startup Investment

Investors' Circle seeks early or expansion-stage companies whose businesses address significant social or environmental issue

Typically these companies are focused in the following sectors:


Energy & Environmental Solutions

Sustainable Consumer Products

Education & Media

Health & Wellness

Community & International Development


Companies in the Environmental Solutions and Sustainable Consumer Products tracks tend to gain the greatest interests from our membership. We also accept and encourage minority and women-led companies so long as the underlying business does not detract from the sustainability and socially responsible values of Investors' Circle. Because our members invest primarily in companies in the five industries listed above, a minority- or women-led company in one of these sectors would be particularly attractive to our members.

Deal Stage
We consider private companies in many different deal stages including early, expansion and growth. We do not consider individuals or technologies, only fully-formed companies. Companies that do not expect to generate revenues of at least $5 million within the next 5 years will not be accepted.

Financing Needs
We do not accept companies with capital needs greater than $10 million as that amount is beyond the capacity of our angel network. Companies with capital needs between $500 thousand and $3 million tend to gain the greatest interest from our investors.

Scalability
Investors’ Circle members are interested in maximizing social and environmental impact as well as financial return. For this reason, companies that have a potential for national or international growth tend to find more interest within our network than companies that do not have such potential. For example, we will consider a submission from a company that sells organic coffee to retailers across the country but not from a company that is launching a single, local, organic coffee shop.

Other Criteria

* We do not accept companies that are religion-based.
* We do not accept applications from purely non-profit organizations. We will accept for-profit subsidiaries or partners of non-profits.
* Investors’ Circle does consider non-US companies, but these companies should be aware that our members are primarily interested in US-based firms due to the complications of investing in foreign companies. The most likely way that a foreign enterprise would find interest among Investors’ Circle is as a US-based firm with operations overseas. Fees for our services must be paid in US dollars.

Key Characteristics
Companies that are most likely to find interest within our membership will have a combination of the following characteristics:

* A strong management team
* A clear understanding of their market(s)
* Legally defensible technology
* Third party product or business model verification
* Clear commitment to a social and/or environmental mission

Investors' Circle Invests In These Industries

Investors' Circle Invests In Companies That Have Reached The Following Milestones

Investors' Circle Invests In Companies With These Funding Needs

• Pre-money Valuation: - Not Entered
• Capital Seeking: $50,000 - $5,000,000
• Previously Raised: $0 - $3,000,000

Investors' Circle Expects Their Investments To Generate

Investors' Circle Investment Portfolio