GEIF and c2Ventures, two leading technology oriented business angel networks, have published the results of their unique Investor Pulse 2003 survey believed to be the largest cross angel network survey of its kind to be conducted into the UK's business angel marketplace.

The survey focuses on the attitudes and behaviour of UK business angels since the crash and going forward into 2003. It covers five key areas, looking at investor profiles, investment history, how investors find companies, what they look for in a plan and from their investment, and what they are seeking in the future.

The survey provides investor insight and offer contributions and viewpoints from known professionals in the field such as Jon Moulton of Alchemy Partners, Nigel Griffiths, Minister for Small Business, John Calverley, Chief Economist of American Express Private Bank, Paul Gardner of c2Ventures, Grant Hawthorne (formally of GEIF) and Nicky Griffin from law firm Olswang. In addition, the survey is interspersed with commentary on R&D Tax Credits, Employee Benefits, Taper Relief versus EIS benefits and representative comments from over 300 participating business angels.

Survey Highlights:

· "A good business plan is not necessarily a good investment. Find out who wrote it" - Jon Moulton, Alchemy Partners

· "Management is the single most important factor to consider when looking to invest into a business. The second is management." - Paul Gardner c2Ventures

·44.76 per cent of business angels asked still thought that valuations by management of their companies were too high, only 8.6 per cent thought that they were too low

·Almost 65 per cent of respondents stated that the attractions of EIS relief when considering an investment was either not important or only somewhat important

·Almost a fifth of Angels polled said that they would welcome assistance in understanding or validating the financials. Over a quarter would welcome assistance in better understanding technology

·"EIS relief is encouraging angels to over price their investments" - William Owen, Serial Investor

· Only 16 per cent of plans viewed merited an above average rating

· Lack of management quality or dislike of management accounted for over 30 per cent of the vote on why business angels did not invest into a particular company

· 73 per cent of angels expect a return of less than 200 per cent on their investment

· 82 per cent expect to be invested on average over 4 years

· 42 per cent of business angels have written off one or more investments over the last two years

· 76 per cent of business angels stated that they would be investing the same or more in 2003 as they had in the previous two years, with the average amount invested around €37k

To obtain your copy of the report simply visit www.c2ventures.com and follow the link to the download page, then right click on the 'download report' button to download a copy onto your desktop. Alternatively email report@c2ventures.com for a copy in PDF format.

About InvestorPulse:
Investor Pulse is a not-for-profit research project whose aim is to improve the understanding of the UK Business Angel Market.