Why don’t you like me? Exploring the social venture funding gap in angel investing

Abstract

While many studies on the social venture funding gap have focused on venture-level factors to explain why social ventures receive less funding, the role of investors and their characteristics has received less attention. In this study, we propose that the reason for much of the funding gap is that many angel investors lack the analytical capabilities required to assess double bottom lines. Drawing on the literature on human capital in angel investing, we use data on 19,757 investment decisions by 1,428 angel investors from a large angel investment network to investigate the relationship between venture type, angel investor analytical capability, and investment likelihood. We find that the reluctance to invest into social ventures disappears for analytically capable angel investors (those who are relatively educated, experienced, and connected). These findings demonstrate the importance of investor human capital in social venture funding and closing the funding gap.