As part of the Melbourne Angels group I am an active member in, co-hosted the annual AAAI Australian Association of Angel Investors) conference. Set at a great location, the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre, with a great line up of speakers with interesting and challenging topics, all ingredients are there to make it a successful conference. It very much turned out to be so. At the conference I was asked to moderate one session where speakers from India, Canada, US and New Zealand gave their view on international Angel Investing developments. Was especially impressed with the presentation of TechCoast Angels (greater LA area) and the Mumbai Angels. They have more and faster exits than we can possibly dream of. Not quite sure who the developing country is here….
Most Angel groups around the world seem to look at ways in sustaining investing and investments, and that is a great development. Trends we see is sidecar funds (a dedicated separate seed fund), syndication (sharing deals) and greater alignments and working closer with regulators and government agencies. Looks like we are finally growing up!
Apart from excellent networking, the conference resulted in meeting a few highly energetic entrepreneurs, who I look forward in following up on their developments. Have also established a relationship with The Hub (Melbourne), a co working space where entrepreneurs meet and collaborate.