Matthew Guruge wanted more than money. The co-founder and CEO of Awato LLC, a career-counseling firm, was looking for investors for his New Ipswich-based business. Ultimately, he chose a syndicate of five angel investors who could provide key introductions and expert advice in addition to $300,000 in funding.

“We were really interested in getting people who could help us,” Guruge says of his now seven-person startup. “For us, [raising capital] was easy and fast. We were hoping to find mentors who could help the company grow and help us grow as entrepreneurs.”

Startups like Awato have more choices than ever for raising investment capital, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to find the right funding match or partners.