Well, presumably angel investors are accredited. If they don't have at least a million in net worth, what does that say about their track record? And if that's what it says about their track record... what does that say about your company? ;^)
This all needs the context that it is US specific. Other countries usually do not have this 'accredited investor' limitation, nor do they have low limits on how many named investors can participate in any one undertaking.
Most major countries restrict public equity offerings in some way. Many have an equivalent of a "qualified investor". Here's a partial worldwide list.[1]
Islamic banking goes in the other direction, though. In the US, anybody can loan money to anybody. Islam prohibits interest. "Loans" in Islamic banking are more like preferred stock, or a setup where the principal is loaned but anything beyond that is more like an equity stake.
This does come up in "friends and family" rounds though. It's relatively easy in a tech-dense city to find 35 friends and former coworkers willing to invest $15k, but I wouldn't expect that all of them have accumulated $1mm yet (especially in a high-tax locale, if your coworkers are late-20s/early-30s).
