The Angel Capital Summit is Colorado’s largest angel investing event of the year since 2008. This conference is designed to inform and connect angel/VC investors and startup founders.
At the Angel Capital Summit you can expect a lively conference with presentations from local VC fund managers, ten startup founders, over a hundred angel investors and hundreds of regional ecosystem members. This will be a key startup networking event of the year where you can meet new partners, learn more about venture capital, get exposure to the best companies, engage in a collaborative investment process, and most of all - have fun.
ACS Conference Theme
The years 2020-2023 were a wild ride up and down for startup founders and the venture capital investors who funded them. It’s a tough job being a startup founder or investor, but when external economic conditions shift wildly, the uncertainty can make decision making seem almost impossible.
2020 and 2021 took us through a rapid rise in deals done, valuations, and unicorn births. Massive amounts of virtually free capital chased startups and “foie gras-ed” them with cash which fattened their valuations and increased their burn rates.
2022-2023 and the interest rate increases that came with them to battle inflation marked the end of the party and many startups found themselves “out over their skis” with valuations and about 38% of rounds in 2023 were down rounds – if you could close a round at all. Unicorns became "Unicorpses" and many companies closed up shop in 2023. Chances are, if you know any of the survivors, they’re probably working on raising capital right now.
The M&A and IPO markets virtually dried up as cash tightened and as limited partners pulled back on VC investments and high interest rates led to capital disappearing from later stage VC rounds and then trickling down to Seed stage deals as well. As we all know, with no exits, the incentive to invest is diminished.
The strongest companies and the strongest investors have survived and now in 2024 we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Solid GDP growth, rising public markets (especially in tech), low unemployment, and inflation rates that are dropping closer to Fed targets are all indicators that interest rates are likely to come down and capital may return, slowly, to the VC world.
At the Angel Capital Summit this year we will be examining how and why external global economic trends have such an effect on startups. If there was ever a time for startups and investors to put on their economist glasses the time is now. Join us for a lively conversation, great startup pitches, networking with startups and investors and much more.
We will be returning to the Sturm Hall Auditorium on the University of Denver Campus for the ACS this year. Join us on Tuesday, March 26 for a reception and expo at DU followed by a full day of activities on Wednesday March 27 including continental breakfast and light lunch. Accredited investors are invited to stay for the investor forum following the pitches to discuss the opportunities and identify which companies will move forward in the funding process.
The Angel Capital Summit is open to the public regardless of accredited investor status or RVC membership. While membership is not required, we do encourage investors, founders and community members to consider joining RVC to enjoy discounts of up to 100% on all RVC events throughout the year.
Tuesday, March 26th