Southern California Angel Network Realizes Fourth Highest Investment Total in its 19-Year History
IRVINE, Calif. – February 29, 2016 – Tech Coast Angels (TCA) invested $13.5 million in a total of 58 companies in a diverse mix of industries in 2015. In addition to the $13.5 million of direct investment by TCA or its ACE Fund, the angel network also helped companies in its portfolio obtain $82 million through additional funding sources in 2015.
The angel network’s total direct investment for the year was slightly off its record $16.7 million year in 2014, consistent with the market slowdown in investments towards the end of 2015. The only other years in which TCA exceeded 2015’s total for investments were in 1999 ($16.3 million) and 2013 ($14.9 million). Investment in new companies was 35% of the total last year, compared to 41% in 2014 and 63% in 2013. Please see TCA’s 2015 year-end report for further details, a summarization of 2015, the outlook for 2016, and charts that segment TCA’s investments by industry.
“Notwithstanding the turmoil in financial markets in the latter part of the year, our numbers for 2015 reflect our confidence in adding value to innovative, early-stage companies—as well as expansion investments to our existing portfolio companies,” said TCA Chairman, John Harbison. “Tech Coast Angels remains one of the largest and most influential angel networks because of our commitment to solid and collaborative relationships within the investment and entrepreneurial communities.”
The angel network also had six exits in 2015, including two successful IPOs (Mindbody, CytomX) and) and four acquisitions (CRISI Medical Systems, Olive Medical, Thermark and Wispry). This brings the total exits since the network’s inception in 1997 to 60.
“Early-stage investing is often a long-term commitment, and Tech Coast Angels members remain steadfast in providing support, both financially and experientially, to early-stage, high-growth companies—especially those in Southern California,” continued Mr. Harbison. “We are looking forward to continuing our success in 2016 with our existing portfolio companies and by encouraging new young companies with great ideas.”
About Tech Coast Angels:
Tech Coast Angels (TCA) is one of the largest angel investment groups in the US. The group comprises over 300 angel members with experience spanning all aspects of successful leadership in almost every industry in five networks that encompass Southern California. TCA is the leader in providing funding, guidance, mentorship and leadership experience to early-stage, high-growth, exciting companies in Southern California. CB Insights has ranked TCA ahead of all other angel groups as the strongest network in the country.
Since its founding in 1997, Tech Coast Angels have invested over $176 million in more than 300 companies and have helped attract more than $1.5 billion in additional capital/follow-on rounds, mostly from venture capital firms. For more information, please visit www.techcoastangels.com.
Southern California Angel Network Surpasses Previous Records for Both Investments and Activity
IRVINE, Calif. January 29, 2015 Tech Coast Angels (TCA) invested a total of $16,373,337 in 61 total deals in Calendar Year 2014. The angel network announced that 2014 was the most active year since the networks inception in 1997 for number of deals funded, and capital raised was also the largest ever. TCAs five networks throughout Southern California invested in a variety of industries last year, including consumer goods, healthcare, biotechnology, HIPAA-compliant data storage, social networking, organic agriculture, and automobile technology.In 1H 2014, TCA investments totaled $6,321,874 in 27 total deals. 2H 2014 saw a nearly 60% increase in the amount of total investment from the first half of the year, with $10,051,463 in 34 total deals. Compared to 2013, the angel network increased its total investment portfolio by nearly 12%, from $14,639,612 million in 2013 to $16,373,337 in 2014.After four successful exits in 2013 (Cognition Technologies, Green Dot, Lend Amend and Trius Therapeutics), 2014 brought five more positive exits with AIRSIS, Allylix, Bluebeam Software, Hookit (formerly Loopd Networks), and Mindbody Software. TCAs portfolio of new deals for 2014 include: Aggregage, Apeel Sciences, Ascendant Spirits, Beacon Healthcare, Edufii, Fusion Brake, GoBookIt, ImmunoGum, iPourIt, LeaseLock, Neural Analytics, Parcel Pending, Perfectna, Portfolium, Respiratory Motion, RetroSense Therapeutics, Ring Router, Schlep & Fetch, Soma Bar, Spine Innovation, The Influential Network, TrueVault, Unlicensed Chimp Technology, and WeGoLook. “We are excited by the quality and unique breadth and scope of these great, young, mostly Southern Californian companies that we can support through our experience and capital, said Michael Green, TCA incoming chairman. “We look forward to continuing to find, hone and cultivate the many outstanding early-stage companies in our community in 2015.
IRVINE, Calif., March 29, 2011 A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report entitled Shaking the MoneyTree established southern California as the third most active area for equity investments in venture-backed companies in the United States, coming in just slightly behind New England and growing far faster. Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest angel investment network in the U.S., was ranked the number one investment group in Southern California by the report.
According to Mike Napoli, recently appointed chairman of TCA, “Tech Coast Angels has been growing steadily through our focus on the entrepreneur and making it easier for new companies to get their ideas heard and considered. Even much larger investors can seldom claim a result as impressive as five profitable exits in a single year.
TCA has discussed individual exits in various announcements, but this is the first time the network is making available details on all five results.
TCA-invested company MindBody Partnerships which provides a lead generation, conversion, retention and loyalty program for the beauty and health and wellness sector. As part of its Series D financing, MindBody Partnerships provided TCA with a 78.75 percent IRR. Integrien, an IT analytics startup, was acquired by virtualization giant VMware for $100 million in August 2010, and Language Weaver, a pioneer in statistical machine translation, was acquired in July by SDL, the leading provider of global information management solutions. Language Weaver was acquired for a consideration of $42.5 million in cash. Trius Therapeutics, a company developing an antibiotic for serious gram-positive Staph infections, completed an IPO in August directed at raising $50 million through an offering of 10 million shares. The company is listed on the NASDAQ. Finally, the much heralded IPO of Green Dot Corporation, a prepaid debit card company, yielded over 100 times return for early investors in the company.
“As you can imagine, stated Napoli, “both our entrepreneurs and our invested members have been happy and inspired by the excellent results TCA has helped produce.
About TechCoast Angels
Tech Coast Angels, www.techcoastangels.com, is the largest angel investor network in the United States. Its members provide funding and guidance to more early-stage, high-growth companies in Southern California than any other investment group. TCA members invest in companies in a wide range of industries, including clean technology, consumer products and services, digital and social media, financial services, hardware and software technologies, and life sciences and healthcare. TCAmembers give companies more than just capital; they also provide counsel, mentoring and access to an extensive network of potential investors, customers, strategic partners and management talent. TCA has more than 250 members in five networks in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Westlake/Santa Barbara and the Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino Counties). More information on investment with Tech Coast Angels can be found at www.techcoastangels.com, www.facebook.com/techcoastangelsor twitter.com/techcoastangels.
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