Girona was the chosen venue to host the 14th Annual AEBAN Congress—an especially fitting choice, as the city has firsthand experience of the evolution of the business angel role and entrepreneurship toward more structured, collaborative models that are closely connected to the local ecosystem. This makes it an ideal setting to reflect on how early-stage investment must adapt to increasingly complex and demanding environments.
The Congress program clearly reflected the main forces currently reshaping the early-stage investment ecosystem. Across the different sessions, topics ranged from the opportunities created by dual-use technologies and innovation transfer, to the increasingly complementary relationship between business angels and venture capital, as well as the role of regional ecosystems as drivers of entrepreneurship and investment.
The discussion also addressed structural issues such as the European fiscal and regulatory framework, the evolution of the Startup Law, and the need to advance instruments that facilitate co-investment and diversification. All of this, together with greater discipline in portfolio management in low-liquidity environments and the use of artificial intelligence to support the investment process, pointed to a clear evolution of the ecosystem toward higher levels of professionalization, collaboration, and strategic vision.
From SpainNAB, we would like to thank BAGI for their warm welcome and AEBAN for the invitation to participate and share our perspective on impact investing and the purpose behind the alliance signed between our two organizations.
The current moment in angel investing
The report presented by IESE Business School offered a very clear snapshot of the ecosystem. Its core message was compelling: the business angel remains a critical figure but must adapt to new rules of the game. There is a clear shift from intuition-based models and informal deal flow toward more professionalized, structured, and collective strategies. Syndication, sector specialization, and active portfolio management are gaining importance.
The context is becoming more demanding. Projects now involve greater technological and regulatory complexity, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence and deep tech. Pre-investment analysis and due diligence processes are deeper and more costly. This is compounded by increased competition at early stages, with the entry of funds, corporates, and family offices, putting pressure on valuations and reducing negotiating power.
IESE’s conclusion was clear: the challenge is not a lack of opportunities, but the growing difficulty of identifying, structuring, and supporting them over time.
At a moment when the challenge is no longer finding opportunities, but determining which ones truly deserve capital, time, and support, the adoption of approaches that bring greater intentionality and structure to the investment process becomes increasingly relevant. In this context, impact investing can play a particularly valuable role in angel investing.
Impact investing as a lever for business angels
In this environment of greater complexity, competition, and lower liquidity highlighted in the report, the distinctive value of the business angel no longer lies solely in generating deal flow, but in the ability to make better decisions, provide active support, and prepare portfolio companies for their future development.
The logic of impact investing naturally aligns with how many business angels already invest and support ventures from very early stages. Going where others are not, taking risks that the market has not yet absorbed, contributing more than just capital, and actively helping projects structure, grow, and access future funding rounds are all part of the DNA of angel investing.
In this sense, impact investing does not introduce an external logic, but rather gives a name and a framework to practices that already exist. It provides a structure that strengthens intentionality in project selection, clarifies the investor’s distinctive contribution, and introduces greater discipline in monitoring and decision-making over time—elements that are particularly valuable in contexts of high technological complexity, increased competitive pressure, and less linear funding trajectories. It also opens up access to co-investment and facilitates the integration of startups into an increasingly demanding and diversified capital ecosystem.
This space also reveals a significant pipeline of projects with growth potential, real impact, and a clear contribution to social and environmental challenges that still struggle to attract early-stage capital. This is a particularly natural area for angel investment and one of the key focus areas we aim to promote through the alliance between SpainNAB and AEBAN.
The SpainNAB–AEBAN alliance to mobilize impact capital
The Congress highlighted the strategic alliance between SpainNAB and AEBAN, identified by the organizing association as one of its three key initiatives for the year.
This collaboration is grounded in a shared conviction: impact is deeply aligned with the historical and future role of angel investing. Integrating it in a structured way reinforces the relevance of business angels and their ability to transform realities beyond financial returns.
SpainNAB and AEBAN will work together to further explore how to integrate impact strategies into early-stage investment, generate knowledge and practical tools, and help mobilize capital toward solutions that address the major social and environmental challenges of our society.
Investing with impact is not just about investing better. It is about investing with purpose, rigor, and a shared vision for the future.
