It's easy to assume that investors are only interested in making money and adopt a follow-the-leader approach to getting the best returns.

However, a new report from online startup investment platform Propel(x) shows that the top reasons for investing are: the management team, cited by 75 percent, ability to understand the technology (52 percent), and the potential return on investment (42 percent).

"The results of our survey dispel a common misconception that angel investors are driven by a follow-the-leader mentality," says Swati Chaturvedi, CEO and co-founder of Propel(x). "Our data shows that access to both management and independent industry experts is key to facilitating angel investing, especially when it comes to complex science and deep technology startups whose innovations have world-changing potential".

The report also shows that science and technology companies are popular investment choices. When asked about companies that most interested them, 66 percent of investors named information technology and communications, 56 percent life sciences, and 53 percent energy and green technologies.

There are altruistic motives at work too, nearly one-third (31 percent) of angel investors ranked solving some of the world's biggest challenges as their main motivation.

"As this survey shows, many individuals want to invest in science and technology startups," adds Ms Chaturvedi. "The easier we make it for angel investors to discover, evaluate and participate in science and technology startups, the more we’ll see money going into these worthy companies and the benefits to humanity accrue".

You can read more about the report's findings on the Propel(x) blog and there's a summary of the findings in infographic form below.

Image Credit: vovan / Shutterstock