Most people we speak to do not think angel investing is for them. The image they have in mind is some version of: you need a finance background, a serious amount of disposable capital, and years of startup-adjacent experience. Without those three, the door stays closed. That image is wrong. Here is what we have learned across our first three Angel Accelerator cohorts at AtVenture, and why the June cohorts are designed to break it. Who actually shows up Across Cohorts 1, 2 and

People ask us all the time what AtVenture actually invests in, and how we make those decisions. The short answer is we invest with one principle: Diversity in every deal. That principle shapes the kind of companies we back, who we back them with, and how we get to a yes or a no. Here is what that looks like in practice, and why we built it this way. What we invest in Our investment thesis is deliberately specific: Europe-based startups; (pre) seed stage; open across sectors a

Velina did not join the Angel Accelerator to make an investment right away. She joined to learn. “I joined to explore new ways to put my money to work beyond the stock market and to empower founders from non-traditional backgrounds.” That is exactly the stance we see most often in our cohorts. Curiosity, conviction, and the sense that there must be something more meaningful than another ETF. What Velina did differently is the part worth paying attention to. What changed in th