According to an article from the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship:
"Organized angel investors invested $25.6 billion in 2006—a 10.8% [increase] over 2005. Overall, 234,000 angels backed 51,000 different firms last year. Both deal numbers (up 3%) and average deal size (up 7.5%) grew, thus offering further indications of a healthy angel market."
An angel investor is a wealthy individual who provides business capital for start-up or growth of a business, in return for a share of the equity of the business. Typically they're looking for investments under $1 million. According to Wikipedia, "Of the 51,000 US companies that received angel funding in 2006, the average raise was about US$500,000."
While angel investors often invest in companies with larger revenue possibilities than a typical self-employed person might earn, it's worth considering angel investors as a source of capital, especially if you're growing an existing business to a new level.
You can read more news about the angel investment markets here: