Median Angel Round Was $700K in 2011, Up From $500K in 2010

The so-called early-stage funding frenzy seems to be a real phenomenon, with the numbers to prove it. The median angel round for American start-ups grew 40 percent last year, to $700,000 from $500,000.

In the same period, the mean angel round was $1.11 million, up from $840,000 the year before.

The same figures are more than twice as big when you count angel rounds that also included non-angel investors.

All these assessments come from analysis of 573 deals in 2011, worth a total of $873.3 million dollars, as compiled in the first “Halo Report,” a joint project of the Angel Resource Institute, Silicon Valley Bank and CB Insights.

One important caveat, so as not to overstate the report’s findings: Median angel funding for Internet and healthcare companies, which are the two largest categories, was relatively steady year over year; the big growth came from other categories, which included mobile, software and energy.

It’s possible that part of the lift came from a move by top accelerator programs to give participating start-ups on the order of $100,000 in addition to their normal stipend, following the example set by Yuri Milner’s Start Fund and Y Combinator. However, the companies in those programs are mainly Internet start-ups.