Most angels track a portfolio with three layers: a master spreadsheet they control, the dashboards of the platforms that hold their positions (AngelList for syndicates and funds, Carta for SAFEs and shares issued there), and, once the count passes a few dozen companies, dedicated software such as Seraf or a net-worth tracker such as Kubera.
No single tool sees everything an angel owns. Positions sit in different places, change form when a SAFE converts, and have no price feed. The useful question is less "which app" and more "what record do I need, and which tool keeps it current with the least typing." What follows is about the job a tracking tool has to do, not an endorsement of any vendor.
Why is an angel portfolio hard to track?
A public stock portfolio lives at one broker and updates every second. An angel portfolio has none of that:
Positions live in many places. A direct SAFE signed by e-signature, a syndicate allocation held through an SPV, shares issued on a cap table platform, a convertible note sitting as a PDF in your inbox.
Instruments change shape. A SAFE becomes preferred stock at the next priced round. A note accrues interest and converts. A company merges, gets acquired for cash and stock, or quietly winds down.
There is no market price. The only objective marks are priced rounds, acquisitions and shutdowns, and they arrive months or years apart.
Information arrives by email. Founder updates come on the company's schedule, in the company's format, if they come at all.
Tax paperwork multiplies. Every SPV or fund vehicle can send its own K-1, and each holding has a date and a basis you will need when it ends.
Any tool you choose has to deal with all five, which is why most angels end up with a combination rather than one product.
What should you record for every investment?
Before picking software, decide on the fields. This list works whether it lives in a spreadsheet or a dedicated app:
Company legal name, state of incorporation and the entity you invested through (yourself, a trust, an LLC, or a syndicate SPV)
Date the money left your account and the amount
Instrument and key terms: SAFE, convertible note or priced equity; valuation cap, discount, MFN clause, pro rata or information rights side letters
Where the signed documents are stored
Status: outstanding SAFE, converted, follow-on round, acquired, shut down
Current mark and what it is based on (cost, or the price of the last priced round)
Follow-on decisions you made or declined, with the date
Tax fields: acquisition date, cost basis, whether the company may qualify for Section 1202 (QSBS) treatment, and which vehicle will send a K-1
The tax fields are the ones people skip and regret. Holding periods, basis and the qualified small business question all matter when a position ends, and reconstructing them years later from email is painful. The guide to angel investing tax benefits covers why those dates matter.
The tools, grouped by the job they do
A spreadsheet you own
Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable or Notion. It is free, handles any instrument and never locks your data in. The cost is manual upkeep: nothing updates unless you update it. For a first portfolio of a dozen or so checks, a well-designed sheet with the fields above is usually enough, and it remains the master record even after you add other tools.
Platform dashboards: AngelList and Carta
If you invest through AngelList syndicates, funds or rolling funds, its dashboard lists those positions and is where the vehicles' tax documents arrive. Carta works from the company side: when a founder generates, signs and funds a SAFE on Carta, Carta's product page says it is logged in both the company's cap table and the investor's Carta portfolio.
The limit is obvious: each dashboard only sees what happened on its own rails. Treat them as data feeds into your master record, not as the record itself. If AngelList is your main channel, the walkthrough on using AngelList for deal flow and investing explains how its vehicles are structured.
Dedicated angel portfolio software: Seraf
Seraf describes itself as a central dashboard for early-stage investments, covering portfolio value, company progress, performance metrics and document storage, with plans for individual investors and for angel groups, micro-VCs and family offices. Software like this earns its place when manual upkeep starts to slip, typically once you hold enough companies that you can no longer recall each one's status from memory.
Net-worth trackers: Kubera
Kubera is a net-worth tracker that accepts private investments alongside bank, brokerage and crypto accounts. It will not tell you how a startup is doing, but it shows how much of your total wealth sits in illiquid startup equity, which is the number that matters for how diversified your angel portfolio really is.
Your inbox, organized
Founder updates are the richest data source you have. A dedicated email label or folder per company, with updates filed as they arrive, costs nothing and makes quarterly reviews fast.
How should you value positions you can't sell?
Pick a rule and apply it consistently, because a tracker full of optimistic marks is worse than no tracker at all:
Hold every new investment at cost.
Mark up only when a priced round sets a new price, ideally one led by a new outside investor.
Keep SAFEs and notes at cost until they convert.
Mark down after a down round, and write off a company that has shut down or stopped responding for a long time.
Separate paper value from cash returned. Venture funds report both (TVPI for total value, DPI for distributions), and the same split keeps an angel honest about what has actually come back.
These marks are for your own decisions about pacing and follow-ons, not for tax filings. The angel investing portfolio strategy guide shows how they feed into check sizes and reserves.
A simple routine that keeps the record current
Once a quarter, reconcile wires against signed documents, update statuses and marks, file founder updates, and note any follow-on decisions coming up. Once a year, collect K-1s and other tax forms, flag write-offs and exits, and hand your tax adviser the acquisition dates and basis for each position. The tools above make this faster; none of them make it optional.
More guides on building and managing a portfolio are in the angel investing section.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:Is a spreadsheet good enough to track angel investments?
For a small portfolio, yes. A spreadsheet with the right fields (instrument, terms, dates, basis, status, documents) does everything a beginner needs. Most angels add other tools later to cut manual work, but keep a master record they control.
Q:Do AngelList and Carta show all of my angel investments?
No. Each shows only the positions that went through its own platform: AngelList for its syndicates and funds, Carta for securities the company issued on Carta. Direct SAFEs signed elsewhere and SPVs from other platforms need to be recorded separately.
Q:How often should I update my portfolio tracker?
Quarterly is enough for most angels, plus an update whenever a company raises a priced round, gets acquired or shuts down. A year-end pass before tax season catches K-1s, write-offs and holding-period dates.
Q:What should I track for taxes on angel investments?
Record the acquisition date, cost basis, the vehicle that holds each position and whether the company may qualify for Section 1202 (QSBS) treatment. Keep the signed documents with the record. Confirm what applies to you with a tax adviser, since the rules change.
Q:When should I mark up an angel investment?
Mark up only when a priced round sets a new price, preferably led by a new outside investor. Hype, a founder's projections or a SAFE with a higher cap are not reasons to raise a mark.