LOS ANGELES (PRWEB) December 29, 2020
Twenty appears to be a lucky number for Tech Coast Angels’ Los Angeles (TCA-LA) Chapter. The angel network celebrated its 20th birthday this year, announced that it invested more than $5 million into seven new companies and 14 companies in total, and its membership grew 20% this year. Despite the global pandemic and concerns of an economic crisis, there was plenty more good news for TCA-LA: it accelerated the speed of its deal process, created a new web site, realized its first annual chapter fund, and is in the process of raising capital for a second annual fund that will close in the very near future. Of the 14 companies funded by TCA-LA in 2020, all but one of the companies are headquartered on the West Coast, and nine are in Southern California.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the success of our first annual chapter fund, especially given the significant headwinds startups faced in 2020,” said TCA-LA president, Brian Horner. “Not only was our first fund fully deployed, but we were also able to raise a second fund for 2021 with even more participation from members. Entrepreneurs who pitched our group this year have all reacted extremely positively to the expedited deal process, as well as the guaranteed minimum investment size the fund provides. All told, TCA’s Los Angeles chapter funded 14 companies in 2020 for a total of nearly $5 million, up significantly from 2019.”
Companies funded or led by TCA-LA members in 2020 are:
- Comfreight (Digital Media – Web/App Product or Service)
- Elevate K-12 (Digital Media – Web/App Product or Service)**
- Fitplan (Digital Media – Web/App Product or Service)*
- Hawthorne Effect (Life Sciences/Healthcare)
- Makani Science (Life Sciences/Healthcare)**
- Nevados Engineering (Clean Tech/Industrial)*
- Noria Water Technologies (Clean Tech/Industrial)
- NovaSignal / Neural Analytics (Life Sciences/Healthcare)
- Razberi Technologies (Hardware/Software Technologies)**
- Ready, Set, Food! (Consumer Product or Service)*
- Recess (Digital Media – Web/App Product or Service)
- Saasuma (Hardware/Software Technologies)
- SIZZLE (Digital Media – Web/App Product or Service)**
- Somabar (Consumer Product or Service)
- TRIALS.AI (Life Sciences/Healthcare)
- Turn Technologies (Digital Media – Web/App Product or Service)
- VIRTANZA (Other)*
- YBVR (Digital Media – Web/App Product or Service)*
(*) Company deal led by TCA-LA and also funded as part of LA Fund 2020
(**) Deal not led by TCA-LA, but recognized as part of LA Fund 2020 investment
The company also unveiled its new website this past week: http://www.techcoastangels.la
Mr. Horner concluded by looking forward to 2021. “From a membership perspective, the fund has also been very beneficial to our chapter. Not only did membership increase by 20% last year, but we've also seen a marked increase in member engagement. As limited partners in our chapter fund, members now have more collective skin in the game, and have become more active scouting for new companies, participating in the deal process, and most importantly, using their expertise and wealth of contacts to help our portfolio companies develop. Our membership, and its collective experience, has always been TCA's most valuable asset, and it's the reason companies come to us for funding. We essentially have 400+ venture partners to call upon anytime.”
About Tech Coast Angels and Tech Coast Angels-Los Angeles:
Tech Coast Angels (TCA) is one of the largest and most active angel investor networks in the nation, and a leading source of funding for seed-stage and early-stage companies. The angel network is comprised of five chapters, consisting of over 450 members in Southern California. Every TCA member is an accredited investor, and companies in which TCA invest go through well-structured, transparent, time-efficient screening and due diligence. TCA members are founders and business leaders who have extensive knowledge in the investment process and world-class business practices, and thus are able to provide companies with more than just capital: they also contribute counsel, mentoring and access to an extensive network of investors, customers, strategic partners and management. Since its founding in 1997, TCA has invested over $250 million in more than 450 companies and has helped attract more than $1.7 billion in additional capital/follow-on rounds.
Tech Coast Angels-Los Angeles (TCA-LA) has 120 members with experience in a myriad of industries and was founded in 2000. For more information about TCA-LA, please visit http://www.techcoastangels.la, or contact Mitchell Schwartz (mitchellschwartz01@gmail.com / (323) 387-0857).
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