After being ranked 4th among the top 100 cities to start a business in the US, Durham has attracted huge attention from many investors and entrepreneurs.

Similarly, in the past 3 years, the city has always offered a great environment for startups, allowing many new brands to be built and investors to fund deserving startups.

Thinking about a go-to spot where all of the top-ranking investors of Durham are presented on a list? Well, you're at the right place.

So, let's wait no longer and start discussing the list of the top 5 angel investors in Durham.

Top Angel Investors in Durham

While there are hundreds of investors in Durham, we have filtered out some of the top-ranking angel investors to ease your search.

Intersouth Partners

Website: Home | intersouth

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Software, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotechnology.

As the largest venture capital firm in North Carolina, Intersouth Partners provides funding to Early and Late Stage Ventures. Founded by Dennis Dougherty and Roy Rodwell in 1985, they funded a total of 165 startups, from which many investments have been made within the last 3 years.

The network focuses on a wide range of startups with a prime focus on healthcare technologies. They usually fund startups that have the potential to present unique solutions in the market and solve real-time issues.

Aside from their investments, Intersouth Partners also conducts many mentorship and networking events to help startups meet with different mindsets. They have also conducted many startup accelerators to help unique-minded entrepreneurs attract funding for their ideas.

The investment range of Intersouth Partners ranges from $300,000 to $1M. Some recent investments in their portfolio are:

EDJX: EDJX is a computing platform powering real-time applications. The startup was spun out of another Raleigh startup, 6Fusion, a cloud infrastructure company.

Advanced Animal Diagnostics: AAD develops on-farm diagnostic technologies that help livestock producers manage animal health and costly diseases.

Lyra Therapeutics: Lyra Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing innovative therapies for the localized treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis.

SJF Ventures

Website: SJF Ventures 

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Clean Energy and Climate, Circular Economy and Logistics, Mobility and Govtech, Health, Education, and Food.

After launching a $175 Million impact investment fund, SJF Ventures is also one of the prominent venture capital firms in Durham. It was founded by Anne Claire Broughton, David Kirkpatrick, and Rick Defieux in 1999. Since its inception, the network has funded 70 startups, creating more than 14,000 jobs for people in 22 sectors.

When funding startups, the experienced team of investors at SJF Ventures analyze various factors that may affect the startup's growth potential. They check market stability, chances of survival and maximum/ minimum ROI generation. Once a startup passes the screening test, SJF Ventures provides it with the required funding and access to an experienced network of investors.

Similarly, SJF conducts many talks, workshops and mentorship programs to guide fresh entrepreneurs. They also arrange different accelerator programs to help startups with different business interests raise funding.

The investment range of the firm ranges from $250,000 to several million dollars. Some of their recent investments are:

TransLoc: TransLoc, a startup based in Durham, North Carolina, developed transportation technology solutions. It was acquired by Ford in 2018 as part of Ford's plan to build the Transportation Mobility Cloud open platform for cities and transportation partners.

Validic: Validic is a technology platform that offers digital health and remote care programs for healthcare organizations. It connects to over 400 in-home clinical and mobile health devices and applications.

Salvage Direct: Salvage Direct is a salvage vehicle auction platform.

Hatteras Venture Partners

Website: Hatteras

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Biotech, Diagnostic, and Healthcare IT.

Hatteras Ventures is a venture capital firm that provides funding to early-stage startups. The network was founded by Clay B. Thorp and John Crumpler in 2000. With a network of more than 300 investors, Hatteras Venture Partners funds startups all across the Southeastern US.

During the screening tests, the network highly focuses on startups that promote health solutions and have massive growth potential. The investors fund startups at least 3-4 years old and have extensive knowledge about their competitors and related fields.

Aside from the funding, Hatteras Venture Partners also organizes many accelerator programs and networking events outside North Carolina. The investment range of Hatteras Venture Partners ranges from $400,000 to $4M. Some of their recent investments are:

Atacor Medical: A medical device company developing an extracardiac, extravascular approach to cardiac pacing and defibrillation. They have produced solutions that are important alternative treatment options for patients requiring bradycardia pacing support.

Atsena Therapeutics: A clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on bringing genetic medicine to reverse or prevent blindness. They have an ongoing Phase I/II clinical trial evaluating a potential therapy for one of the most common causes of blindness in children.

Rustic Crust: Rustic Crust is a leading U.S. national brand of naturally prepared, ready-made pizza crusts.

Salvage Direct: The startup provides an online auction for cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and recreational vehicles. They provide a full management service, handling the entire process for insurance companies.

Pappas Capital

Website: Pappas Capital 

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Life Science, Biotechnology, Biopharmaceuticals, Drug Delivery, and related ventures.

Founded in 1994, Pappas Capital is a venture capital firm that has funded over 30 startups. While their investments may look low, the network usually provides series A and seed-stage funding to startups with high chances of growth.

And since the network was founded by Art Pappas, who has a huge background in the drug development industry, the network conducts strict screening tests. Currently, they have around 150 co-investors that fund a startup based on its business model, team background and market size.

Once a network has been provided with the funding, Pappas Capital also gives it access to its experienced network of mentors. Throughout the year, they hold different workshops for early-stage startups about challenges faced by startups at different stages.

The investment range of Pappas Capital isn't disclosed. Looking at most of their past investments, the network invests around $200,000 to $3M. Recent companies in their portfolio are:

Veralox Therapeutics: Veralox Therapeutics is a biotech company that is developing small molecule therapeutics that treat diseases with significant unmet medical needs. They are currently developing a therapy for immune-mediated blood disorders, beginning with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).

VFlowTech: VFlowTech produces Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries for low-cost energy storage for renewable energy.

RoboCT: A world-leading exoskeleton company that specializes in the R&D and application of exoskeleton robotics, providing intelligent products and customized solutions to medical institutions and individual companies.

Expeditions Fund: Expeditions Fund is a venture capital fund investing in early-stage technology companies globally led by mission-driven founders.

Horizon Quantum Computing: Horizon Quantum Computing is a startup that works on IT solutions, allowing users to write programs in classical languages that can be compiled and run on quantum computers.

Excelerate Health Ventures

Website: Excelerate Health Ventures 

Investor Type: Venture Capital Firm

Investment Interests: Healthcare IT and SaaS.

Excelerate Health Ventures is a seed and early-stage digital healthcare venture capital firm focused on healthcare software and tech-enabled healthcare services startups. The network was founded by Bobby Bahram and Gary Abrahams with a mission to boost the startup ecosystem of Durham. So far, they have funded around 30 startups, most at an early stage.

As for the screening tests, Excelerate Health Ventures conducts a multiple-phase screening test to ensure they fund the most deserving startups. Once a startup has made it through the screening test, it receives the best guidance from experienced entrepreneurs and mentors.

The investment range of Excelerate Health Ventures can range from 300,000 to several million dollars. Some of their recent portfolio companies are:

Korio: Korio is a startup that develops medical solutions.

Atalan: Atalan develops wellness risk management software to help predict and address clinician burnout and turnover.

Censinet: Censinet is a SaaS company in healthcare cybersecurity, providing a two-sided network platform for third-party risk assessments.

Doctivity Health: Doctivity Health is a technology healthcare company that helps companies create new revenue by reducing referral leakage, improving provider productivity, and growing market share.

Huma.AI: Huma.AI is an AI company offering a powerful and user-friendly NLP platform.

Wrap Up

So, the list of top 5 angel investors in Durham has finally come to an end. But before we wrap up, allow me to share some amazing tips about pitching to investors.

Angel investors and venture capital firms are always interested in startups that can generate profits. Even if your business has a great future, you should understand some basic methods to present your startup as investable for the investors.

Similarly, work on your pitch deck, check out some examples of a great pitch deck online and hope for the best.

Frequently Asked Questions