Angels play key role in financing (The Boston Globe)

"US business angels, many of them wealthy entrepreneurs who have sold their companies, injected $11.9 billion into 24,000 ventures in the first half of this year, Jeffrey E. Sohl, director at the University of New Hampshire's Center for Venture Research, told the Northeast Regional Angel Investor Conference meeting here last week."

"In the same period, venture capital firms invested $14.5 billion in 1,822 companies, according to the MoneyTree survey sponsored by the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm and the National Venture Capital Association using Thomson Financial research data."

"In fact, while angel capital fuels a variety of businesses, the largest three investment categories mirror those of traditional venture capitalists: computer software, healthcare, and biotechnology."