What is a Business Angel?

An angel is a private investor, often a successful entrepreneur, who invests in small businesses close to home for a variety of economic and personal reasons. Usually, angels are friends, relatives, or colleagues. Successful entrepreneurs, especially retired ones, are especially likely to become angels.

Here are some places where you can find business angel investors:

Angel Capital Association http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org
Angel's Forum http://www.angelsforum.com
Band of Angels http://www.bandangels.com
Common Angels http://www.commonangels.com
Keiretsu Forum http://www.k4forum.com
Launchpad Venture Group http://www.launchpadventuregroup.com
New World Angels http://www.newworldangels.com
New York Angels http://www.newyorkangels.com
Prairie Angels http://www.prairieangels.org (charges $125 to submit idea)
vFinance Directory of Angel Investors: http://www.vfinance.com

A Business Angel or Angel Investor, is an individual who is interested in investing his money into new ventures. It is kind of an individual venture capitalist, instead of having the limited partnership structure operates as an individual, instead of investing other people's money invests his own money. He also might not have as rigorous a process as a Venture Capital firm, in that he might be more willing to invest in someone he knows and trust rather than investing in an idea.

More details in the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_inves...