Bruin Angels is a group of enthusiastic UCLA alumni who believe there should be a steady stream of entrepreneurial successes emanating from UCLA – Bruin Unicorns! We focus on supporting UCLA’s entrepreneurial ecosystem through the education of UCLA Alumni as angel investors. This includes on-campus networking, education, experience building, coordinating with ecosystems of peer institutions, and generally supporting local efforts adjacent to UCLA as appropriate. Our group is a recognized network of the UCAL Alumni Association, and was approved in July 2024 to operate as an official network.
To be an educational member, the suggested donation is $700 paid annually.
For SEC accredited investors, the Angel Investor membership is a suggested donation of $1,200 paid annually.
For startups with 2 founders, the Startup membership is a suggested donation of $1,500 annually.
The suggested minimum for our angel members is $10,000 annually. It’s a suggestion rather than a requirement because we want to balance supporting Bruin founders with ensuring that our angels retain their investment discretion.
Yes they are! If your donation is made to the Bruin Angels Support Fund on UCLA Giving, your donation can be considered tax-deductible. However, please consult with a tax professional on the financial implications of your donation.
Dues are used to cover administrative expenses. Those include things like program management costs, producing educational content and media, cleanup fees after meetings on campus, group lunches or dinners, and other expenses.
Our process is to have all companies seeking support submit their request for review online through the Bruin Angels website. We use SparkXYZ, which is linked on our website (www.BruinAngels.org). Even if our initial contact with a company or founder is in person, we will instruct everyone seeking support to submit a request online.
Companies seeking support who have submitted a request online will have their materials reviewed initially by our deal flow committee. That committee will make an initial determination within 30 days of submission.
Vetted companies are then contacted by the executive director to determine their needs. Based on the results of the interview with the Executive Director and the screening committee, companies can be assisted with securing opportunities such as networking, connecting with a mentor, getting media opportunities, given an opportunity to practice pitching, or given an opportunity to pitch to investing members.
After pitching to members at an official pitching session, interested members can form a due diligence team with one member selected as the lead. Those members will conduct the due diligence process, and they will circulate their results within Bruin Angel membership. Investing members who express interest in the investment opportunity will work with Bruin Angels to deploy an investment or invest directly with the company in question.
Members meet twice per quarter to review companies.
Companies are evaluated based on the connection with UCLA, the team, product, market size, business plan, IP and opportunity.
Bruin Angels itself does not make investments. Bruin Angels members may choose to invest directly into a company, or to form an SPV to facilitate that investment. Bruin Angels will assist members with this process either way.
Investing members determine how much they invest, but we encourage each angel investor to invest at least $10,000 annually.
UCLA companies are preferred, but as long as the company is referred to us by a Bruin Angels member, they’re welcome to apply.
Bruin Angels works closely in partnership with other angel groups both locally and nationally to syndicate deals. That is part of the reason we use SparkXYZ, to facilitate data sharing with partner groups.
We are in need of members, leads and administrative support. If you have helpful expertise or would like to volunteer, please reach out through our membership form.
Our schedule of events is constantly developing. Please see our events calendar for the most current information available.
