&gt;Andy Bechtolsheim was a seed investor in Google -- he gave them a check based solely on their idea and who they were.<p>Institutional seed rounds used to not exist (or barely). Thus angels investing to get the company to the A round was aptly called Seed.<p>But now, there are many Seed VC funds around and the size of the round has grown. (and so has the size of the A round) You may recall articles in the past 18 months proclaiming that the Seed round is the new A round.<p>In such an environment, what used to be called the Seed Round can perhaps be called the Angel round. Many startups with credibility (YC, repeat founders, researchers, etc.) may be able to skip the Angel round and go to the Seed round with favorable terms.