The Boise Angel Alliance had the most active year
in 2012 since we created our first angel fund in 2007.
There are many individual angels in the valley. So
far as I am aware, there is only one formal angel organization, the Boise Angel
Alliance. The purpose of the Alliance is to encourage the availability of
capital for entrepreneurs. It has
created two funds, the Boise Angel Fund and the Treasure Valley Angel Fund. The below data are drawn from the
records of the two funds.
The Boise Angel Fund made its last angel
investment in 2012, and is now fully committed. The new Treasure Valley Angel
Fund was formed and as of this writing has $1.1 million of committed capital
and continues to raise additional capital.
We had our first successful “exit” in 2012. An exit
is angel-speak for selling or otherwise disposing of an investment. We invested $45,000 in a Spokane based
company along side the angels there.
We were paid about $188,000 for our stock and have the potential for
additional proceeds. We have had
one unsuccessful exit, a bankruptcy where we lost our entire $25,000 investment.
In 2012 the funds invested $500,000 in five
companies. This is the most that
has been invested in one year since the first fund came into being in
2006. Simple math would suggest
that the funds invested an average of $100,000 per deal. But that ignores the
leadership of the funds.
Once we commit an investment to a company, we then
try to help raise additional capital. That additional capital may come from our
own members, other groups in the Northwest with whom we have trusting
relationships, and other angels that may study our efforts and decide to invest
along side our investment. The total capital raised by those five companies in
these rounds was $1,395,000 or about two dollars additional capital for every
dollar invested by the funds.
The five companies are:
CoreConcepts. This is a local
manufacturer and distributor of high performance outdoor clothing sold through
specialty retailers.
MealTicket. Meal Ticket enables
food manufacturers to promote products directly to restaurants and other food
service providers.
Sawtooth Ideas. Sawtooth provides an online
marketplace where designers of woodworking plans can sell plans, along with
innovative software that turns traditional two-dimensional plans into
three-dimensional, dynamic plans.
Social GoodNetwork. They enable consumers
to shop on line and do good, by capturing referral commissions and allowing the
shopper to designate a portion to charity.
VoxbrightTechnologies. Voxbright
develops voice recognition software for cable television and Internet TV
platforms.
The angels also provide mentoring and advice to
the companies before and after the investment transaction. One of our members serves as a director
in four of the five companies. Our
collective membership of about fifty individuals is actively involved in
promoting and assisting the companies wherever we can. For example, I purchased and proudly
wear clothes from Core Concepts. My
family and I shop on line through Social Good Network.
These companies will have an impact on our local
economy. At the time of our
investments, they employed about 15 people. Over time we expect that their employment will grow
significantly.
Since 2007, our two funds have invested a total of
$1,385,000. Those companies have
raised more than $19 million in the rounds in which we participated. The Boise-based companies as December 31, 2012 had created about 110 new jobs.
We recognize that these two funds can meet only a
small portion of the demand for risk capital by our local entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs were turned
down. Undoubtedly some of them
were worthy of investment. We encourage others in a position to do so to
consider investing a portion of their capital in valley entrepreneurs. The Boise Angel Alliance stands ready
to assist. Both entrepreneurs
seeking funding and those considering investing can learn more through Alliance website.
________________________________________________
Dr. Kevin Learned is on special assignment with the Division
of Research and Economic Development at Boise State. He was the co-founder of
Learned-Mahn, Inc., which he believes was the first commercial software company
in Idaho. He is past president of
the Boise Angel Alliance and an investor in its funds, the Boise Angel Fund and
the Treasure Valley Angel Fund. He can be reached at kevinlearned@boisestate.edu,
208-426-3573
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment