Why We Use AngelList to Administer our Investments
At Jemison Alexander we invest in early-stage companies with at least one founder who identifies as female.
We’re not a traditional fund. We currently use a syndicate model, which we describe in depth here. The TL;DR is that we find the best early-stage companies to invest in, and we allow our investors to choose their investments on a deal-by-deal basis. We pool capital from all of our investors who are interested in a particular deal and we write one total check to the company under the name Jemison Alexander. This allows folks to participate at all levels - some write $5k checks, some write $500k checks.
There is, of course, complexity (legal, financial, tax, regulatory) to doing this the right way. As the General Partner of Jemison Alexander, I explored all of the different ways that we could provide a safe, secure, trusted way to administer our investments. After material diligence, I decided that AngelList was our best path forward.
AngelList (found here: https://www.angellist.com/) is the industry leader in SPV (special purpose vehicle) administration. They’ve raised more than $100M to fund their growth, and they are known as the most trusted company in the space.
Among the many benefits of using AngelList, some of the most notable include:
legal and compliance review of all deal documents from the AngelList legal team
seamless online dashboard for investors
tax preparation and annual K-1 filing
secure integrations like Plaid for payment processing when investors fund their investments
distributions handling - when the companies you invest in have a liquidity event (typically an acquisition or IPO), AngelList handles the distribution of funds to you as the investor
We have been very pleased with AngelList so far. If you ever have any AngelList-specific questions, they have built out a great knowledge base here.
As always, if you are investing alongside Jemison Alexander and have any questions or feedback, please reach out to me directly at ryan@jemisonalexander.com.
Jemison Alexander invests in early-stage startups with at least one founder who identifies as female. You can learn more at www.jemisonalexander.com.
If you fit our investment criteria and would like to pitch us, email General Partner Ryan Perlowin directly: ryan@jemisonalexander.com
If you’d like to advise our portfolio companies or invest alongside us in future deals, apply here to join The Squad. Our SPVs are typically $250k-$500k and minimum angel checks to join the SPV are typically $5k. Note that only accredited investors can invest.