Securing the financing constitutes is a real problem for many startup companies. So the hope is that Business Angels (BA) get more important as financial resource. BAs are organized in networks and organizations to make up their activities in bundles of financial funds supplied by them or to get involved in cooperations with public and, less frequent, private VC-funds. Concerning the actual dimension of those BA-activities, especially the spreading and transaction of investment sums at the early-stage of startup companies, there is just selective empirically founded knowledge. The ‘KfW/ZEW-Gründungspanel’ (foundation panel) contains a suitable data source to illustrate the impact of Business Angels and standardize their investment strategies. The survey of the foundation panel 2013 focuses on the commitment of BAs for startup companies. The survey should answer the following questions:

1. In how many  startup companies private investors in particular BAs are involved? To what extent do they perform their sharings? Which percentage of the entire start-up financing in the high-tech sector do those private investors cover?
2. How did companies and private investors find together? How important are the existing BA-networks and organizations and their offer therefor?
3. Which obstacles and problems do those startup companies have to face by attempting to get in touch with possible private investors? How far have those problems prevented a financial involvement eventually?
4. To what extent get private investors respectively BAs involved beyond the mere capital investment? What are the most important functions they assume in this manner?