Angel networks have been growing in their level of sophistication. They also have been moving up the food chain, looking for more later stage deals. From the Boston Business Journal via MSNBC:
As the market grows, angels — especially angel investor groups — are moving upstream, looking to dole out more money and take fewer risks. Meanwhile venture capital firms anchored by huge funds are increasingly looking to invest larger rounds of cash. Entrepreneurs say that combination has made tapping into angel capital, once fertile ground for early-stage funding, trickier in recent years.
That is what I am seeing with the entrepreneurs we work with. There is plenty of cash, but it is getting farther out of reach from the early stage entrepreneur. An additional trend is the mass of private equity money going to fund buyout deals like Chrysler. This will put additional pressures on finding seed monies.
(Thanks to Dr. Jim Stefansic, an entrepreneur in search of early stage money himself, for passing this along).