Looking for the best angel investors? We've compiled a list of 50 of the top angel investors (now updated for 2025!) based on what matters—the success of their portfolio.
Some of the angels on this list such as Marc Andreessen and Chris Sacca are well-known, while others are sure to surprise you!
Ready to jump in? Let's go!
Top Angel Investors in the U.S. by Exit Rate
What do you think of when you think about the "top angel investors?" Perhaps you think about their Twitter followers, how many investments they've made, or whether they graced the cover of Forbes.
Exit Rate As an Indicator of Success
This list focused on the success rate of their portfolio, which we think is a much better indicator of who are the top angel investors. In this case, our list of top angel investors is based on the proportion of the startups in which they invested that had an exit such as an acquisition or initial public offering (IPO).
What we found is that many of the top angel investors with the highest rate of exits of their portfolio companies are less well-known and flying under the radar of many founders. On the other hand, many of the most popular angel investors have rather mediocre exit rates.
Our research indicates that if you are more concerned with increasing your chances of success rather than winning a popularity contest, you should focus on lesser-known angel investors.
50 Top Angel Investors with More than 20 Portfolio Companies
20 Top Angel Investors with 10-20 Portfolio Companies
We also took a look at angel investors with between 10 and 20 investments to see which ones had the highest investment rate.
The caveat here is that the investors on the following list have relatively few investments, so the correlation is undoubtedly more spurious.
What jumps out at me the most about this list is how high the average exit rate is for those investors in this category. There could be a number of factors leading to this such as a high level of selectivity or their ability to actively support a smaller portfolio.
Key Learnings About Top Angel Investors
Our analysis exposed some really interesting findings explained below.
Top Angel Investors Have Smaller Portfolios
Beyond the astronomically high exit rate of the top angel investors, it's also fascinating to note that the top angel investors are also not the most active. In fact, many of the top fifty angels on this list have made between twenty and fifty investments.
This makes sense since investors with a smaller portfolio can be more actively engaged with their startups to help ensure success. Also, it could be that these investors see a substantial number of startups but are a lot more selective in their investments.
Top Angel Investors See Two-Thirds of Their Startups Exit
The success rate of the top angels' portfolios is simply breathtaking! Top-ranked angel investors see a full two-thirds of their investments reach some kind of an exit. That's mind-boggling.
Bob Pasker tops the list with a reported 75% of his angel investments reaching an exit. Wow.
An important point to note here is that angels with the highest exit rates tend to invest in later-stage rounds, such as Series A and Series B, rather than in early, pre-seed rounds.
Many Top Angel Investors Are Also Venture Capital Investors
Our list of top angel investors includes Bob Pasker, Raj Sandhu, Marc Andreessen, Hadi Partovi, and Michael Lazerow. (To be clear, however, the investments in this analysis only include their angel investments.)
It makes sense that VC investors also have strong angel portfolios. They have great access to high-quality investment opportunities and experience with evaluating venture-backable companies.
Kim Perell Is the Top Female Angel Investor
Unfortunately, our ranking of the top angel investors is still dominated by men, a trend that we hope will shift as more women continue to shape the startup ecosystem. One clear standout is Kim Perell, who ranks 29th overall on our Crunchbase-based list of angel investors. She has invested in 26 portfolio companies, and an impressive 14 of those have already reached a successful exit, giving her a 54% exit rate. This performance places her among the very best female angel investors globally and highlights the growing influence of women in venture capital and early-stage investing.
The second-highest ranked female investor on our list is Constance Freedman, who is ranked 42nd with 49% of her angel portfolio reaching an exit.
The Most Active Angels Have Mediocre Exit Rates
One super interesting finding is that there seems to be a bit of an inverse correlation between the number of investments that these angel investors have made and the exit rate of their portfolio.
Those angels with more than a hundred investments tend to cluster at the bottom of the ranking, as seen below:
Among the most active angel investors with more than 100 portfolio companies tracked on Crunchbase, Shervin Pishevar leads the rankings with a remarkable 56% startup exit rate. Close behind are Paul Buchheit and Scott Banister, both achieving a 44% exit rate, placing them among the most successful early-stage investors. Other notable names include Fabrice Grinda with a 39% exit rate, Marc Benioff at 36%, and Alexis Ohanian at 35%. These top-performing angel investors demonstrate exceptional track records, with roughly one-third to more than half of their startup investments resulting in successful exits.
An Important Caveat on the Data Set
As with any large dataset, there may be some missed or inaccurate entries. All data used in this analysis comes directly from Crunchbase, and while it is not perfect, it is reliable enough for comparative purposes. Minor variations such as whether the 26th ranked angel investor should actually appear in the 25th spot should not materially impact the overall insights.
To ensure accuracy, our team also spot checked a sample of reported exits independently, and the results closely matched the Crunchbase records. This gives us confidence that the exit rate data is broadly accurate and provides a solid basis for comparing leading angel investors and their portfolios.
In Conclusion
I have personally seen that startup founders are extraordinarily focused on the most active and popular angel investors. But it might be a mistake to put an outsized amount of effort in trying to reach these star angel investors.
The most active angel investors in our data set have both mediocre exit rates and relatively low diversity investment rates.
It might be better to reach out to angel investors with moderate levels of activity (e.g. 20-50 investments) since they seem to invest in startups that reach an exit.
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