Top 15 Angel Investors for AI Startups in 2025
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve and integrate into various sectors, investment opportunities in AI startups are becoming increasingly attractive to angel investors. Here's a detailed look at the Top 15 Angel Investors for AI Startups in 2025, highlighting their affiliations, focus areas, notable investments, and more.
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1. Wei Guo
Affiliation: Managing Partner at UpHonest Capital, Founder of Wei Capital
Focus: Early-stage investments across sectors with a focus on AI and digital firms.
Notable AI Investments: Checkr, Hims & Hers, Rippling, RoboTerra, MoBagel, Mashgin.
Track Record: Over 70 portfolio companies have reached valuations over $100M. Awarded Forbes 30 Under 30. Named a top AI angel investor by VentureBeat in 2017.
Investment Stage: Early Stage.
2. Naval Ravikant
Affiliation: Founder of AngelList
Focus: Active AI angel investor.
Background: Entrepreneur and thought leader in the tech industry.
Investment Areas: Invests in cutting-edge businesses with promising futures.
Known for: Being a prominent figure in the tech industry.
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3. Jerry Yang
Affiliation: Co-founder of Yahoo, Founding Partner at AME Cloud Ventures
Focus: Early stage investments, particularly in AI.
Background: Co-founded Yahoo! in 1994 and served as its CEO from 2007 to 2009.
Track Record: Founded AME Cloud Ventures after leaving Yahoo! in 2012.
Location: Based in Palo Alto, California.
4. Marc Andreessen
Affiliation: General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Focus: AI, tech, and innovative technologies.
Investment Range: $500K - $40M.
Notable Investments: OpenAI, Databricks, and Shield AI (a16z portfolio).
Background: Co-founded a16z in 2009.
5. Peter Thiel
Focus: Technology and AI.
Investment Sweet Spot: $10.0M.
Investment Range: $1M - $20.0M.
Background: Known for his contrarian and often bold investment strategies.
Known for: Co-founding PayPal and Palantir.
6. Gigi Levy-Weiss
Affiliation: General Partner at NFX
Focus: Seed stage investments.
Location: Invests in Tel Aviv and Palo Alto.
Investment Areas: Messaging, Games, and SMB software.
Track Record: A well-known figure in the venture capital world.
7. Nat Friedman
Affiliation: Investor at C2 Investment
Focus: AI and tech startups.
Investment Sweet Spot: $10.0M.
Investment Range: $1M - $100M.
Background: Former CEO of Github.
Known For: Active angel investor and entrepreneur.
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8. Hemant Taneja
Affiliation: Managing Director at General Catalyst.
Focus: Early-stage investments, particularly in AI.
Investment Sweet Spot: $1.3M.
Investment Range: $500K - $2.0M.
Known for: Expertise in tech and innovation.
9. Chris Adelsbach
Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Software.
Typical Funding: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A.
Notable Investments: WealthOS, Renew Risk, Camion.
Location: Europe.
Known for: Expertise in the fintech sector.
10. Xavier Niel
Focus: Software, SaaS, Artificial Intelligence.
Typical Funding: Seed, Series A, Funding Round.
Notable Investments: CUBE AI, Pixmania, The Mobile-First Company.
Location: Europe.
Known for: Investments in software and AI.
11. Charlie Songhurst
Focus: Software, Information Technology, AI.
Typical Funding: Seed, Pre-Seed, Funding Round.
Notable Investments: Stelia, Lodestar, Briefcase.
Location: Europe.
Known for: His focus on tech and AI investments.
12. Elad Gil
Affiliation: Independent Investor, Entrepreneur.
Investment Check Size: $250k+.
Notable AI Involvement: Character.AI, Harvey.AI, Perplexity.AI.
Track Record: Investor/Advisor to numerous prominent tech companies (e.g., Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase).
Background: Experienced entrepreneur and investor.
13. Nitesh Banta
Affiliation: CEO of B12.
Investment Check Size: $100k - $250k.
Notable AI Investments: B12, Xwing, Pilot.com.
Background: Operator angel and former VC.
Expertise: Fundraising and founder coaching.
14. swyx
Affiliation: Founder of Smol.
Investment Check Size: $50k - $100k.
Focus: Devtool and AI startups.
Background: Devrel, community builder, editor of Latent.Space.
Notable Investments: Supabase, FlutterFlow, Resend, Railway, Quadratic, Modal, Brightwave, Brev, MatX, Cosine.
15. Jared Palmer
Affiliation: VP of AI at Vercel.
Investment Check Size: $50k - $100k.
Focus: AI and software engineering.
Background: Educator, speaker, and OSS enthusiast.
Known for: Startup founder and VP of AI at Vercel.
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FAQ
Q: Who is Wei Guo and what is his investment focus?
A: Wei Guo is the Managing Partner at UpHonest Capital and focuses on early-stage investments, particularly in AI and digital firms. He has notable investments in companies such as Checkr and Hims & Hers. Learn more about Wei Guo
Q: What is Naval Ravikant known for in the AI investment space?
A: Naval Ravikant is the founder of AngelList and is an active investor in cutting-edge AI businesses. He is a prominent figure in the tech industry and has a strong focus on innovative businesses with promising futures. Read more about Naval Ravikant
Q: What are Jerry Yang's contributions to AI investments?
A: Jerry Yang is the co-founder of Yahoo and a founding partner at AME Cloud Ventures. He focuses on early-stage investments in AI and significant tech companies, leveraging his experience from Yahoo's success. Learn about Jerry Yang's investments
Q: What is Marc Andreessen's investment strategy?
A: Marc Andreessen, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has a broad focus on AI, technology, and innovative sectors, investing between $500K and $40M in promising companies like OpenAI and Databricks. Explore Marc Andreessen's approach
Q: What distinguishes Peter Thiel in the AI investment landscape?
A: Peter Thiel is known for his bold investment strategies in technology and AI. He typically invests between $1M to $20M and is a co-founder of prominent companies like PayPal and Palantir. Find out more about Peter Thiel
Q: Who is Gigi Levy-Weiss, and what is his investment focus?
A: Gigi Levy-Weiss is a General Partner at NFX with a focus on seed-stage investments, particularly in messaging, games, and software startups. He is a well-known figure in the venture capital space. Learn about Gigi Levy-Weiss
Q: What is Hemant Taneja's notable investment practice?
A: Hemant Taneja, Managing Director at General Catalyst, focuses on early-stage investments, especially in AI. His investment range typically spans $500K to $2M, showcasing his expertise in tech and innovation. Read more about Hemant Taneja
Q: Who is Chris Adelsbach and what industries does he focus on?
A: Chris Adelsbach is an angel investor who primarily invests in FinTech and software industries. He typically focuses on Seed, Pre-Seed, and Series A funding rounds for companies such as WealthOS and Renew Risk. Discover more about Chris Adelsbach
Q: What characterizes Xavier Niel's investment strategy?
A: Xavier Niel focuses on software, SaaS, and AI investments, typically participating in Seed, Series A, and funding rounds. He has notable investments in CUBE AI and Pixmania and is recognized for his significant contributions to software and AI sectors. Learn more about Xavier Niel
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond and launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks.