Soothing breeze and amazing views, South Carolina is commonly known for its amazing tourist spots. With cities like Charleston, the state has often been ranked among the best tourism spots for more than 5 years.

But! That isn’t all. In the last 3 years, many entrepreneurs have started to introduce new ideas through their startups. Even though the startup scene isn’t growing fast like other states, there are many businesses that are expanding, thanks to angel investors.

To help you know these angel investors, their investment interests, and funding ranges, I have prepared the following list of the top angel 5 angel investors in South Carolina.

So, without any delay, let’s get started.

Top 5 Angel Investors in South Carolina 

The following list highlights some of the top-ranked angel investors, venture capital firms, and private equity firms according to their investments.

Cliff Holekamp

LinkedIn: Cliff Holekamp | LinkedIn

Investor Type: Individual Investor

Investment Interests: Tech

Investment Stage: Early

Cliff Holekamp is a well-known angel investor who is a Co-Founder and serves as General Partner & Managing Director at Cultivation Capital. He started funding startups 8 years back and has made around 20 personal investments.

As an individual investor, Cliff Holekamp funds startups that are in the sector of tech. Cliff Holekmap strongly focuses on companies that have massive growth potential and expects them to generate 3-4x ROI. 

Once a startup has been funded, he also uses his wide experience in the tech industry and guides his portfolio companies. However, Cliff Holekamp doesn't attend a lot of extra startup events, as he invests through fundraisers and startup accelerators.

The investment range of Cliff Holekamp is between $15,000 to $250,000. Some of his notable investments are:

ScopeStack: ScopeStack is a cloud-based end-to-end platform for policy crowdsourcing. It provides policy engagement tools for government, regulatory affairs, communications, grassroots advocacy, and fundraising. 

Benchmark Email: Benchmark Email is a digital marketing company that specializes in email messaging and communication. It offers an integrated, automated, and robust feature set built to help enterprises of any size.

PolicyEngage: PolicyEngage is a cloud-based end-to-end platform for policy crowdsourcing. Its products are policy engagement tools for government, regulatory affairs, communications, grassroots advocacy, and fundraising. 

Jamie Sutton 

LinkedIn: Jamie Sutton | LinkedIn

Investor Type: Individual Investor

Investment Interests: Digital Marketing, E-Commerce, and Tech

Investment Stage: Early and Seed

Jamie Sutton is an angel investor who has been actively funding startups for 5 years. He has a preference for investing in startups in the MarketingTech and E-commerce sectors at the Seed stages.

When funding startups, Jamie Sutton carefully understands the startup idea and allows the startup leaders to explain their businesses through a presentation. Among 8 of his investments, most are through investor meetings and networking events.

Once a startup has been funded, Jamie Sutton also provides it with the best guidance. He often conducts networking events and invites some of the most experienced mentors in South Carolina.

The investment range of James Sutton lies between $100,000 to $5M. Some of his portfolio companies are:

Okendo: Okendo is a customer marketing platform that helps brands grow by building stronger and more profitable relationships with their customers. It has over 9,000 Shopify brands using its platform. 

EcoCart: EcoCart is a sustainability-focused eCommerce enablement startup. It calculates and eliminates the carbon footprint of online orders, providing points that can be redeemed for gift cards or to make an impact on the planet. EcoCart has raised a total funding of $17.5M over 2 rounds from 18 investors.

Nuvemshop: Also known as Tiendanube, Nuvemshop is an e-commerce platform that helps entrepreneurs and SMEs create their own online stores. Nuvemshop has raised a total funding of $628.4M over 5 rounds from 24 investors.

Christian Stadil

Investor Type: Individual Investor

Investment Interests: Tech and Fashion

Investment Stage: Early and Seed

Christian Stadil is an angel investor and co-founder of Thornico. Before becoming an individual angel investor, Stadil served as a professor of creative leadership at the Centre for Business Development and Management at Copenhagen Business School. He has also founded many companies and owns Hummel International. 

When talking about investment activities, Christian Stadil doesn't take angel investment as a full-time career and only invests in companies that have a massive potential. He often invests in startups through fundraisers or startup accelerators. In order to secure funding from Christian Stadil, the startup must gather attention or offer something innovative.

As for the investment range, Christian Stadil can provide funding of around $400,000. Among his investments, some notable companies are:

Woomio: Woomio is a company that develops an influencer marketing platform. It provides tools for brands, agencies, retailers, and online influencers to find each other and measure their collaborations.

Libertine-Libertine: Libertine-Libertine is a fashion brand. The brand offers garments for men and women, made by expert manufacturers with fabrics sourced from some of the finest mills available. The company’s products are sold via its e-commerce website.

Charleston Angel Partners

Website: Charleston Angel Partners (chapsc.com)

Investor Type: Angel Investment Group

Investment Interests: healthcare, consumer, enterprise, software, artificial intelligence, machine learning, advertisement tech, and energy sectors.

Investment Stage: Seed

Founded in 2004 by John Osborne, Charleston Angel Partners is an investment group. With headquarters in Charleston, the network focuses on tech-related startups at the seed stage.

Moreover, Charleston Angel Partners often fund startups that have a decent growth potential and a strong income flow. The investors strongly prefer businesses that have gone through decent growth and can generate 4-7x ROI.

Aside from their investment activities, Charleston Angel Partners also conducts networking events, mentorship programs, startup accelerators, and public workshops. They have an experienced mentorship group that focuses on guiding their portfolio companies when things go in an unplanned direction. 

The investment range of Charleston Angel Partners is around $2M. Some notable companies in their portfolio are:

Baebies: Baebies is dedicated to delivering early disease detection and comprehensive diagnostics through screening and testing platforms powered by digital microfluidics.

ZipIt: ZipIt is a cloud-based software and services provider that focuses on adding connectivity to electronic devices through messaging devices for kids and photo frames, cars, and other appliances for adults.

Terressentia: Terressentia has developed the TerrePURE® process, which represents the leading edge of premium distilled spirits production for both retailers and brand owners.

Dynepic: Dynepic powers corporate digital innovation, training, and engagement with its DX-Platform technology. The DX-Platform is a fully immersive app and training creation, distribution, and management platform.

Azalea Capital

Website: Azalea Capital Lower Middle Market Private Equity Fund

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Tech and Consumer Products

Investment Stage: Seed

Azalea Capital is a private equity firm that funds startups in South Carolina. The network was founded by Partick A. Duncan and has invested in 25 startups.

When funding startups, the investors at Azalea Capital have a strong focus on businesses that can grow and generate profits. They invest in startups that focus on real-life problems and provide unique solutions.

Startup leaders who want to secure an investment can send an online form. However, it should be understood that Azalea Capital is quite strict with its investments and only funds startups that have strong chances of profitability.

The investment range of Azalea Capital lies between $5M to $20M. Notable portfolio companies are:

ACL Airshop: ACL Airshop provides unique products and services to numerous leading passenger and air cargo carriers, operating on six continents at a majority of the world’s Top 100 air cargo hub airports.

Modus: Modus is a Data Management firm that helps organizations leverage eDiscovery intelligence to make better-informed, enterprise-wide business decisions. Another Modus is a manufacturer of unmanned underwater vehicle systems and services.

KLMK Group: KLMK Group provides client advisory services for the healthcare industry. They provide services regarding internal team evaluation, team process enhancement, project delivery standards development, project team review, and guaranteed maximum price review.

How To Prepare For An Investor Meeting

Preparing for an investor meeting, that too if it is your first time, sounds like an impossible job. But! Remember that angel investors also search for deserving startups, you just need to pitch the right way.

Here are some tips for you to prepare for an investor meeting. 

Do Homework

Always do your homework and conduct strong research on angel investors. Understanding the preferences of specific investors allows you to present your startup idea in a better way.

Present Statistics

Show what your startup has achieved and its potential to grow over the years. No investor likes to invest in a startup that isn’t unique from the competitors and has no chance of growth.

Be Quick

Although it depends on the investor about how long they can listen to you. In most startup events, angel investors won’t just stand there and keep listening to your life story.

Keep the pitch strong and present the main idea within 30 seconds. 

Wrap Up

Pitching to angel investors doesn’t always come with a positive result. It is also possible that your pitch may get rejected. Regardless of the outcome, research well, understand the investment interests of angel investors, and keep trying. 

Frequently Asked Questions