I often wonder how “active” many self-proclaimed Angels actually are. Today, TiE – a global network that acts as an entrepreneurial catalyst from China to India to right here in Boston – put some numbers behind my curiosity. The numbers support why the chapter here in Boston has expanded its presence beyond mentorship, announcing a new startup capital group: the TiE Angels Investment Group.
TiE Boston cites the latest Money Tree Report and a UNH study which shows while VC investments have increased in number and dollar-volume, Angel investment has increasingly become “latent.” In the first half of 2010, 65 percent of Angel group members were inactive – some not even having made one investment to date. This is an increase in non-participation from 2009 by 54 percent.
TiE Angels aims to make a real impact in taking our passionate New England entrepreneurs to the next level with access to seed capital. The group consists of a whopping 35 founding members including VCs, successful Boston entrepreneurs, execs at Fortune 500 companies, and even policy makers and academics. The group is not registered with the SEC and is not a fund: each Angel investor acts on its own accord, and the group is stronger as a whole providing investment advice and support to one another (and also collectively to the funded entrepreneurs).
According to TiE Boston, Angels are primed and ready to invest in a range of early-stage companies in technology and communications, with investments ranging from $500k to up to $2M to .
“With TiE Angels our goal is to help promising early stage companies, particularly those in the Northeast, bridge the gap between innovative ideas and successful operational companies,” said Abhishek Jain, chair of the TiE Angels steering committee. “TiE Angels is a natural extension of TiE Boston’s primary goal of fostering entrepreneurship. Now, in addition to all of the entrepreneur-related mentoring and events TiE already provides, we are enabling start-ups to launch with initial capital.”
Entrepreneurs seeking capital should learn more and submit their plans to TiE Angels at www.tieangelsboston.com to enter the evaluation process.
We applaud TiE Boston for making a real impact in helping more qualified, high-wealth individuals in the Boston area dip their feet into the thriving startup scene here.
