The importance of starting small
Hester Spiegel-van den Steenhoven learnt the hard way not to put all of her money into a single investment – and now, the co-founder of the female investor collective Epic Angels is empowering other angel investors to make measured and meaningful investment decisions.
Hester Spiegel-van den Steenhoven wants women to know that being an angel investor isn’t as complicated as it might seem. With the right knowledge and a little confidence, she believes that anyone can claim a financial stake in emerging businesses.
The 46-year-old got her first taste of angel investing in 2019, when she was working at Deutsche Bank in Germany. A friend recommended that she invest in early-stage start-ups; her first investment was in decentralised infrastructure for the real-world economy. She loved the experience so much that she left her corporate job at the bank to become an angel investor.
In August 2020, the Netherlands native moved to Singapore for her husband’s job. By chance, she found out that an ex-colleague was living in Singapore too, so the pair made plans to meet.
“Maaike and I had worked together 15 years earlier in Germany, when we were both part of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team at the business management consultancy company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC),” Hester shares.
“She had been an angel investor in San Francisco, where she lived before moving to Singapore. She was surprised that angel investing wasn’t as accessible here as it was in San Francisco; the scene in Singapore tended to be elitist and you had to clear a high threshold – typically US$20,000 ($26,757) – to get started. We talked about this when we met up, and decided to do something about it.”
Hester and Maaike gathered a few other women and researched the start-ups in South-east Asia that they could invest in, and from there, Epic Angels was born. Now, almost four years later, Epic Angels is the largest female-only investor collective in AsiaPacific, with nearly 300 investors from countries across the region.
“To join Epic Angels, you need to meet the accredited investor requirements in the country you live in,” Hester continues.
“We ask our investors to make two investments a year, so that we remain an active angel investor network. This attracts the best founders.
“I’ve found that the women in our network are keen to invest their money in solutions that they believe create positive societal change. They want to fund the changes that they wish to see in the world.”
Have you always worked in finance and investment?
Yes. I set up the first campuses of 42 Schools (a software engineering school) in Germany, basically taking them from “zero to one”. Prior to that, I ran large integration projects at Deutsche Bank and worked as a consultant at PwC.
What was your view of angel investing before you decided to get into it?
I knew it was risky, and didn’t know where to go to learn about it or acquire the necessary handson skills. I also didn’t think I knew enough about investing, finance, tech or different industries to get involved.
It was only when we started building Epic Angels that I realised angel investing could be about so much more (than just financial returns). You can support founders and make a real difference with your money in areas that are meaningful to you. I personally love working with people who create with a purpose, and who are clever about how they go about it.
“You’ll get returns if you know what to do, rather than by simply having a high net worth.”