Angel investment in Asia is a significant source of capital raising for businesses. Investments by private high nett worth individuals represent a very high proportion of capital raising in Asia especially for early stage investment. In many respects, it has been a traditional way of doing business in the region. For many centuries, Arab and Chinese traders were financed by wealthly merchants and guilds to take risks in establishing new trade routes and business across all of Asia and the Middle east. These networks of trade and finance were the foundation of business in Asia. Thesedays, it is a matter of very informal networking of friends, relatives and close associates that is a major source of small and medium scale investor funding.

Formal angel investment clubs of the style we see in Europe and the United States are not the norm in Asia. Angel investment clubs and associations are present in only a few countries in Asia. The networking side of business in much less formalised and this actually does create more of a challenge for entrepreneurs to raise capital in Asia. This is especially the case for new types of business which are appearing in Asia where the support network is less established. It is quite common to see entrepreneurs seeking funding travelling to Singapore from places such such as Vietnam, Thailand and from Bahrain, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to Dubai to meet angel investors.