Study of Syndication Network of Business Angels —Evidence of 83 Well-known Business Angels in China

Abstract

With the rapid development of business angel market, joint investment has become more common, which effectively promote the development of angel syndication. Currently, there are few researches on angels’ syndication network, and most of them rely mainly on theoretical research. This paper conducts an empirical research on the syndication network of 83 well-known business angels in China to reveal the basic attribute and structure of the network with the method of Social Network Analysis. The results show that, the syndication network is a sparse network with a low density; the cliques are large in number, small-sized and highly overlapped. The prominent angels have higher centrality and occupy more structural holes, as a result, they are more likely to be selected to make joint investment. The business angel network gets started relatively late in China, but there is still a great potential for development. Implications for angels and entrepreneurs are also discussed.