Angel Investors to be Matched with Startups
February 8, 2010 by Tamara Kaup
Filed under News
If getting the resources to make your startup a success makes you wish for an angel on your shoulder, Invest Nebraska, a nonprofit corporation, may be able to help. Dan Hoffman, executive director, tells us how. Invest Nebraska also sponsors annual Venture Competitions across the state.
Q: We talked before about how your Operational Assistance program provides investment funds to give scalable businesses a “leg up” to better attract angel investors and venture capitalists. What is your new angel investor database about?
A: Our plans for 2010 include creating a network database of 100 Nebraskan angel investors, who are individuals with a high net worth. The angel investors in our database will be accredited investors as defined by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). To meet the SEC definition, an angel investor must have a net worth of more than $1 million or an annual income of at least $200,000. These are individuals who can take a risk for a potential high return because they can afford to lose money.
Q: What will you do with the database?
A: We will use the database to bring together these accredited investors from across the state with entrepreneurial businesses in Nebraska. As companies come forward, we will do the due diligence on them, such as reviewing their financials. We will do a lot of the leg work and then provide the information to the angels. We hope to marry the angel investors to those companies right for them.
Q: How can individuals learn about angel investing?
A: We plan to have about five angel seminars across the state this year to provide information. We will explain what angel investing is and how it can benefit that local community. For communities that are interested, we will provide templates to help them form a local angel investment fund. For individuals that are interested in participating in our network we will sign them up for the network.
When seminars are scheduled we will post them on our Website, www.investnebraska.com.
