Angelos Angelou

Angelos Angelou is a Greek-American economist, economic-development strategist, and investor who is widely credited as a "chief architect" of Austin's rise as a global technology hub. He emigrated from Greece to the United States at age 17. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Master of Arts in Economics (Summa Cum Laude) from St. Mary's University in San Antonio, and completed one year of Ph.D. coursework in Economics at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

After early work at Republic Bank of Texas, Angelou spent nearly 12 years at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce as Vice President of Economic Development and Chief Economist. In that role he led the recruitment of roughly 800 technology companies and about 70,000 jobs to the region — including IBM, Apple, Samsung, Motorola, AMD, Cypress Semiconductor, Applied Materials, Tokyo Electron, and Sematech — attracting an estimated $26 billion in capital investment and helping create 285,000+ direct and indirect jobs.

He later founded AngelouEconomics, an economic-development and site-selection consultancy where he serves as CEO and Chief Strategist; he is a founding member of the Site Selectors Guild and has sited more than $18 billion in capital-investment projects globally. In 2014 he launched the International Accelerator, an Austin-based program built exclusively for foreign-born entrepreneurs, and he serves as President of portfolio companies Schoox and Gridmates. Angelou is a Fellow at the IC² Institute (an entrepreneurship/venture-capital think tank), sits on the Advisory Board of the College of Natural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin, and was appointed by the Texas Governor to the CPRIT oversight committee overseeing the state's ~$3 billion cancer-research program.

His recognitions include being named U.S. Economic Developer of the Year by *Site Selection* magazine, induction into the Austin Technology Hall of Fame (2025 class, alongside Joshua Baer, Robert Fabbio, Joe Liemandt, and Pike Powers), inclusion on the 2023 *Austin Business Journal* Power Players list, and proclamations from the Governor of Texas and the Mayor of Austin recognizing 30 years of economic-development leadership.

• Invests almost exclusively in foreign-born founders who want to build technology companies in the United States — IA's core differentiator versus a generic seed fund.
• Operates as an immersive ~6-month accelerator providing seed capital plus a full support stack: free housing and office space (to keep burn low), immigration and legal support (deferred-payment legal services), fractional/CXO guidance, financial and tax advisory, a global mentor network, and investor introductions.
• Stage focus is seed / pre-seed, sourcing from a global applicant pool (reported 1,600+ applicants) across sectors including AI, SaaS, Life Sciences, Ecommerce, EdTech, and FinTech.
• Track record framed around portfolio outcomes: IA reports 34–57 portfolio companies from 13–26 countries, $143M–$175M+ raised by portfolio companies, and $530M–$2B+ in aggregate portfolio valuation.
• The value proposition is hands-on operating help and U.S. market entry, not just a check — Angelou personally takes operating roles (President of Schoox and Gridmates) rather than acting as a purely passive investor.