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Raising capital for your startup can be a lengthy and often frustrating process. Stack the odds in your favor!

Here are the five most active U.S.-based angel investing groups in 2011 based on the Halo Report: 2011 Angel Group Year in Review.

Need money for your business then follow the business money. To see who are the 5 are go to Social Media Chimps.

Where and how do angel groups invest? We were interested, so in an effort to shed more light on the subject, we partnered with the Angel Resource Institute and CB Insights to develop the Halo Report.  

Banks pulling back but angels pushing forward – it is about who you know or where to look. Keep on reading at Silicon Valley Bank.

Growthink has released a recommendation to entrepreneurs seeking capital: raise money from angel investors.

According to Dave Lavinsky, co-founder of Growthink and an authority on entrepreneurship, 2012 is a good time to be raising money from angel investors.

As Lavinsky explains, “Recently, the National Venture Capital Association announced that the amount of venture capital funding grew 22% from 2010 to 2011. However, when I dug deeper into the data, I found that the lion’s share of this funding went to later stage companies — companies who have already raise previous rounds of venture capital, have revenues, and are looking to grow further before being acquired or going public.”

“In fact, the NVCA’s numbers showed that in 2011, venture capital investments in seed companies or startups declined 48% versus 2010. To me, this means that venture capitalists are now less willing to bet on higher risk, earlier stage companies,” Lavinsky says.

Angels offer less interference and a longer investment horizon.  After all, money is just money. Keep on reading at PrWeb.

Prior to the advent of the internet and way before social media, when a business needed capital investment to grow, it (the owners) had to get out there and really hustle for that investment.

Business owners had to get out there and network. They had to get out there and build relationships. They had to get out there and learn what worked and what didn’t.

Why this matters is that many of these business owners brought those skills back into the business – they got out there and networked with customers, they got there and built relationships with customers and they got out there and learned what worked and what didn’t with their customers.

But, not today. Today, if you want something (as an individual) you can just get on your social media network and ask for it. Which works very well if you want a recommendation for a local restaurant.

But, when it comes to seeking investment in your start-up from an angel investor, it just does not work.

Where do you find business capital? To find out keep on reading this article at Business Money Today.

At a time when media coverage and conversations about angel investing revolve around how few women-led businesses have access to capital and on expiring tax credits for angel investors, I am reminded of a question posed by Barbara Stanny in her book, Secrets of Six-Figure Women:

“What if we turned our attention from what’s wrong with the system and instead analyzed what’s working for those who are succeeding? We would not be ignoring the problems, we would be merely shifting our perspective.”

We can turn our gaze to the nation’s heartland (regrettably ignored for the favored “coasts” when it comes to the topic of angel or venture investing) where we discover a group of 33 women who have taken it upon themselves to quietly change the system.

Change is constant – why not here. To keep reading go to Forbes.

In 2007, Professor Rob Wiltbank reported in Returns to Angel Investors in Groups that angel investors made follow-on investment in about 30% of their invested companies. It was surprising for me to learn that follow-on investments correlated with lower returns, that is, angels that made follow-on angel investments saw returns of 1.4X their investment, while those that did not make follow-on investments enjoyed 3.6X returns.  The time to exit for both groups was similar.

Frankly, the conclusion that angels who make follow-on investments can expect lower returns is distressing to me.  At a time when venture capital, on average, has moved to later stage investing, angels need to plan on making multiple investments to help startups survive to positive cash flow and eventually to exit.  Fifteen years ago, angels typically invested $250K to $500K in startup companies while the average venture capital investment was $2-3 million.  As we saw in Average Round Size in Angel Deals, the average angel investment is now about a bit over $300K but venture capital is now investing $7-8 million per deal.  While it may not have been true in the past, angels now need to provide startups with enough runway to get to positive cash flow, to venture financings or to an early exit through several rounds of angel capital.

How does a “one and done” investment strategy by angels provide higher returns?  I think there are several contributing factors, such as:

Usually means lower returns.  Get out when you can. To check out these contributing factors continue reading at Gust.

You’ve taken the plunge and started your own business of some kind. And maybe you can now see what it can really grow into. But you just don’t have the money to make it happen and you’ve already blown through what you borrowed from your parents and friends. Where else can you turn? Well, you might consider angel investors—folks with capital, often successful entrepreneurs themselves, who look for ways to invest in growing companies. But where do you find these so-called angels? And what exactly are they looking for? In other words, what do you need to do to pitch an angel investor?

Chris Arndt is a partner in Red Granite, a Chicago-based firm that advises high-net-worth individuals and families—a roster of clients that includes several angel investors. From his unique advisory position, Arndt says he knows what entrepreneurs should be thinking about as they go about trying to get an angel on their side. What follows, then, are his tips to do just that.

Hard enough to get one to listen, so you better knock them dead when you get the chance. To check out the tips keep reading this article at Open Forum.

Bandals International Inc., a maker of women’s sandals, raised roughly $100,000 in capital from so-called angel investors last year.

When meeting with potential investors, the owners of the Rochester Hills,Mich., business touted the state’s special tax break for angels—a term used to describe wealthy individuals who provide capital to start-ups. TheMichiganincentive at the time allowed angels to seek tax credits of 25% on their 2011 investments in qualified start-ups.

Tom Sesti, president of Bandals, says the tax credit was key to helping the three-year-old company raise the funds. “It’s almost like offering a money-back guarantee,” he says.

Tax breaks for angel investors have cropped up in recent years in about two dozen states as a means of stimulating job growth. But the effectiveness of the incentives—which range from breaks on 15% of funding inColoradoto 100% inHawaii—are coming under greater scrutiny, particularly as states face budget pressure. Many states’ programs expired at the end of 2011, were stripped of funding or were placed under a moratorium.

The incentives “can be controversial,” said the National Governors Association in a 2008 brief, adding that “even angels are in disagreement as to the economic growth benefits of tax credits.”

Hard to give tax credits when governments are starved for more money.  Can’t expect them to quit spending now, can you? Keep on reading at The Wall Street Journal.

Many “angel” investors, who put their own money into small start-ups at a very early stage, previously worked at technology icons that are known for minting millionaires, like Google Inc. and PayPal. ButSilicon Valley’s angel-investor scene is far from homogenous, new data show.

AngelList, aSan Franciscostart-up that connects accredited investors with companies seeking funding online, recently analyzed its membership to discern where many of the angel investors who create profiles on its site work or have worked. AngelList found that while many angels hold jobs or once did at tech companies such as Google, others were in different industries or tech companies that aren’t considered part ofSilicon Valley’s elite.

Googlers still led the pack in terms of overall angel investments and angel investors. According to AngelList’s analysis, Google’s current and former employees have made 1,823 angel investments. That’s more than twice the number of the next company, Microsoft Corp., and spread among more investors—146 from Google to Microsoft’s 89.

But some companies considered dowdy by theSilicon Valleydigerati also broke into the top 10. For example, 39 current or former employees of International Business Machines Corp. made 464 investments. For consulting firm McKinsey & Co., 327 investments have been made by 27 current or former staffers.

Its all about the return – not just what is sexy. To keep on reading go to The Wall Street Journal.

Startup funds will be harder to come by in 2012, according to hundreds of venture capitalists polled in a recent survey by the National Venture Capital Association.

Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed VCs said they expect venture investments to stay the same or decline next year, compared to just 48 percent who felt that way in last year’s survey.

In spite of the gloomy funding forecasts, there’s still hope for entrepreneurs in need of cash in 2012. In fact, small-business financing options outside the venture capital industry are rapidly proliferating in the digital age.

With just a few clicks, anyone can pitch a business idea to the growing ranks of angel investors. In addition, a number of Web services now provide platforms for entrepreneurs to raise small sums of money from large pools of people — a process known as crowdfunding.

Get your startup business off to a great start. Go to Huffington Post to keep reading this great article.