There are a lot of startups to watch, and a lot of brands to focus on, but, are there any investors who are willing to fund startups?

This is a common question often raised by individuals who are new to the startup culture. And luckily, hundreds of angel investors in Washington can provide a startup with much-needed funding and guidance.

However, finding these investors is where the tough deal comes in since you do not have the proper information about each individual or a specific firm.

To help you out, I have researched and prepared the following list of the top 7 angel investors in Washington along with their investment interests.

Top 7 Angel Investors in Washington

Before I jump on to the list of top angel investors and VC firms, it is important to know that several tips are required to successfully secure an investment. 

Once done with the list, understand how to pitch to angel investors, use a checklist, and then try the online forms or participate in investor meetings.

Onto the list now.

Ravi Mehta

LinkedIn: Ravi Mehta | LinkedIn

Investor Type: Individual Investor

Investment Interests: Software, Cloud, and Digital Businesses. 

Investment Stage: Early and Seed

Ravi Mehta is an active investor and advisor, primarily focused on consumer tech companies. He is the Executive In Residence at Reforge and has held various roles including Chief Product Officer at Tinder, Product Director at Facebook, and VP of Product at TripAdvisor. He is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Outpace.

Discussing his investment preferences, Ravi Mehta invests in a lot of sectors, with a heavy focus on Technology, making up 38% of the total portfolio value. He focuses on investments in the United States and the majority of the companies in the fund’s portfolio are large-cap stocks. However, this doesn't mean that Ravi Mehta ignores early-stage startups. He has also invested in 3 early-stage startups but has strict criteria for investing in businesses that can generate 4x ROI.

The investment range of Ravi Mehta lies between $500,000 to $1M. Some of his portfolio companies are:

Freshworks Inc.: Freshworks is a cloud-based software-as-a-service company. The company provides cloud-based tools for customer relationship management and IT service management. 

DoorDash Inc.: DoorDash is a company that operates an online food ordering and food delivery platform. With a 56% market share, DoorDash is the largest food delivery company in the United States. 

Carvana Co.: Carvana is an online used car retailer. The company was the fastest-growing online used car dealer in the United States and is known for its multi-story glass tower car vending machines.

Andy Liu

Investor Type: Individual Investor

Investment Interests: Software, Fintech, and Digital Businesses. 

Investment Stage: Seed

Andy Liu is an active angel investor and a Founding Partner of Unlock Venture Partners. He has been investing in startups since 1999 and has made 28 investments, with 10 companies currently in his portfolio and 18 exits. 

As for startup funding, Andy Liou prefers to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups. His investments are primarily in the technology sector, with a focus on companies that have a strong, sustainable competitive advantage around data. 

Andy Liu's investment range is typically between $750K and $1.5M. Three of his startup investments include:

Concreit Inc.: Concreit is a Seattle-based company that has developed an investing platform designed to make real estate investing accessible to everyday investors. The platform is designed for everyday investors looking for a lifestyle-oriented method of investing that is social and enables customers to access it.

Possible Finance: Possible Finance is a consumer finance company that offers access to capital and a guided path toward long-term financial health. It focuses on helping communities break the debt cycle and unlock economic mobility for generations.

Ampd: Ampd is Amazon’s Premier Attribution partner. It leverages Google Ads to create a powerful new revenue stream for your Brand on Amazon, tapping into the 3+ billion product searches every day on Google

Charlie Songhurst

LinkedIn: Charlie Songhurst | LinkedIn

Investor Type: Individual Investor

Investment Interests: Employee Management, Tech, Food, and Web3.

Investment Stage: Early and Seed

Charlie Songhurst is also a well-known name in the investment community of Washington who has personally invested in around 500 companies throughout his career. He is also a founding partner of Katana Capital, a long-short equity hedge fund, and runs the Songhurst Group, which holds assets in a variety of private companies.

Although Charlie Songhurst has made a lot of investments, he doesn't always make personal investments as is also working with many VC firms and investment communities. Talking about his investment interests, Songhurst’s portfolio tends to contain companies in sectors such as artificial intelligence, deep tech, fintech, biotech, and quantum. He is active mainly in seed, series A, and early VC investments.

The investment range of Charlie Songhurst lies between $10,000 to $500,000. Among many of his investments, 3 of his portfolio companies are:

Hubflo: Hubflo is a Paris-based company that has developed an all-in-one platform designed to make prospecting, working, and invoicing easier. 

Story Protocol: Story Protocol is a web3 technology developer that aims to change the way narrative universes are formed. 

KAIKAKU: KAIKAKU is a London-based company that focuses on the food and beverage industry.

Diego Piacentini

LinkedIn: Diego Piacentini | LinkedIn

Investor Type: Individual Investor

Investment Interests: Tech and Healthcare

Investment Stage: Seed and Late

Diego Piacentini is an individual angel investor who has made a total of 5 investments. He is known for his work at Amazon for 16 years. His investment focus is primarily on early-stage startups that are reshaping traditional sectors with an emphasis on climate change, education, government, and mobility. 

Aside from investment activities, Diego Piacentini is also dedicated to startup guidance. He conducts and participates in many startup events, guiding startups about what to do when things don't go their way.

The investment range of Diego Piacentini lies between $1M to $12M. Notable portfolio companies are:

Jet HR: Jet HR is a-based company that has developed a payroll and HRIS B2B SaaS platform designed for employee management. 

IDOVEN: IDOVEN is a company that develops medical software designed to detect heart problems at early stages to prevent cardiac diseases. The company’s software is based on artificial intelligence that analyzes long-lasting electrocardiograms.

FUTURELY: FUTURELY is a digital career counseling platform that assists high school students in achieving goals with clear steps in a personal way. 

Updata Partners

Website: Growth Equity for Technology Leaders | Updata Partners

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Tech

Updata Partners was founded in 1998 by Barry Goldsmith, Conor Mullett, Ira Cohen, and John Burton. The firm is headquartered in Washington and has funded a total of 66 startups.

Updata Partners is a technology-focused growth equity firm. They have been active operators through every phase of the software industry’s evolution. Their experience and earned expertise help them deliver maximum impact to their emerging growth portfolio companies.

As for the investment range, Updata Partners typically invests between $10 million to $100 million of equity per company. They prefer to be the first institutional capital and target investments outside of Silicon Valley. Some portfolio companies are:

Improvado: Improvado is a software company that provides marketers with a simple and clear overview of all their marketing data.

CData: CData Software is a leading provider of data access and connectivity solutions.

Accion Venture Lab

Website: Accion Venture Lab - Accion

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Fintech

Investment Stage: Early and Seed

Accion Venture Lab is a venture capital firm that was founded by Paul Breloff in 2011. They have funded more than 65 early-stage startups and have made a total of 102 investments.

Talking about their investments, Accion Venture invests capital and provides support to innovative fintech start-ups that increase access to, improve the quality of, or reduce the cost of financial services for the underserved at scale. They are particularly interested in technology and business model innovation.

Moreover, Accion Venture Lab has a culture of product testing. They use an experiment framework and prioritize what to test. They build and implement a testing plan and share their findings. They also conduct focus groups and generate, refine, and rank ideas over a series of sessions.

Once a startup has been funded, participants will continue to work with the Accion Venture Lab team and be pushed toward piloting and growing the business by focusing on product, and customers, and preparing for further investment.

Accion Venture Lab typically invests up to $1M in early-stage startups. 

ABS Capital Partners

Website: ABS Capital

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Tech and Healthcare

Investment Stage: Late

ABS Capital Partners was founded in 1990 by Donald Hebb. The firm is headquartered in Hunt Valley and provides funding to Washington-based startups.

Talking about their investments, ABS Capital Partners primarily focuses on investments in growth companies across business and tech-enabled services and healthcare sectors. They have invested in approximately 130 companies across eight funds. 

Moreover, the firm seeks to invest in businesses looking for active engagement who value their guidance in building out infrastructure, implementing data strategies, and modernizing their processes.

The investment range of ABS Captial Partners lies between $10M to $50M.

Wrap-Up

Sometimes, it is possible that even the startups with the most unique ideas can’t secure investments. In such cases, the problem isn’t with the idea but with the presentation. 

Before pitching to investors, it is recommended to work on your pitching skills, do proper research, and present your ideas as a profitable investment for angel investors. Location preference can also be a problem as many angels prefer startups based in Seattle and other well-known cities in Washington.  

Frequently Asked Questions