NI is ready to scale, but we need more angels to get there !
We’ve made steady progress in Northern Ireland in supporting entrepreneurs. Last week, we heard of Go Succeed's success, and this week at AwakenHub, we’re also celebrating the announcement that we will deliver the new WeScale programme. Part of the Shared Island Enterprise Scheme, led by InterTradeIreland with Invest Northern Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, it’s a significant boost for women founders who want to scale and grow internationally.
Clare McGee CEO
An urgent challenge
Both announcements highlight firm momentum, but behind them lies another urgent challenge: the need to broaden Northern Ireland’s base of angel investors.
Broadening the investment base
Angel investing remains the most important source of early-stage risk capital for ambitious small businesses. Yet, despite average returns of 2.6x over three and a half years, and an internal rate of return around 27%, Northern Ireland is still operating with only a sliver of the risk capital and network density our founders need. Business support programmes are essential, particularly for women founders, but we must round out the ecosystem. We need to connect our entrepreneurs with more angel investors and easier access to early-stage capital.
It can be done. In the United States, around 90% of early-stage equity funding comes from angels rather than venture capital. Nearer home, Scotland has more than 2,500 active angel investors, making it one of Europe’s strongest per-capita angel communities. The Scottish Co-Investment Fund, managed by Scottish Enterprise, matches private angel activity with public capital. In 2024-25, public-sector co-investment provided £25.6M alongside £106.4M in private angel capital to some of Scotland’s most exciting companies. Imagine the transformative impact of a similar model here.
New Zealand’s Ice Angels offers us another ‘how-to’ lesson. Formed in 2003, they intentionally targeted people outside the finance world, lowered minimum investment requirements, and pooled smaller contributions. Today, they have over 2,000 diverse members and manage early-stage funds worth NZ$750M.
Behind the curve
Northern Ireland can no longer afford to remain behind the curve in encouraging, educating, and growing a more diverse pool of investors.
The potential and appetite are there. We see it through AwakenAngels, the syndicate we formed in 2023 out of frustration at the persistent barriers facing women founders. As Ireland’s first women-led (not women-only) angel syndicate, we’ve already helped eight portfolio companies raise £4.5M in investment. We also lowered our entry level to £2K, making early-stage investing accessible to more people. In the last year, membership has doubled to 118, hundreds participated in our educational workshops, and interest in our CPD-accredited programme, supported by both the British Business Bank and InterTradeIreland, continues to grow.
Economic upside
We have demonstrated what is possible but demand still outstrips supply.
We need to help more people here to understand that they can be angel investors, that there’s a new asset class to add to their financial planning, and that they can unlock growth, especially for women-founded companies, which consistently outperform on revenue and returns.
There will be challenges, including simplifying cross-border tax incentives. But the economic upside is undeniable. Even 100 new angels, or groups investing collectively, putting £10K a year into startups, would inject £1M annually into our economy, generating between £15M and £25M in wider economic impact over five years.
We’re doing a lot of work on ensuring we fan Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurial spark. Now, we also need to broaden the investor base at pace to fuel it. If you agree, let’s talk. You’ll find me at Clare@awakenhub.com
