Female founders lead the pack in Pasadena Angels' $5.4 million funding
The Pasadena Angels announces the upward revision of our 2018 investment to $5.4 million from our previous report of $5.2 million, the largest annual investment in our 18 years as one of the United States’ most respected angel investing groups. 2018 was a watershed year for the Pasadena Angels with three noteworthy milestones.
Our most important milestone is the fact that the companies receiving the top four largest investments were led by female founders, with an average round size over $400,000. Female-led companies also accounted for 38% of the total investment in 2018. While the Pasadena Angels do not have a mandate to invest in female-led startups, these companies and founders exemplify what we look for in a successful company. These four companies are:
· dotstudioPRO: provides a white-label, online video distribution and syndication platform that enables partners to monetize video content. President Phoenix Gonzales led a $2 million seed round with over $500,000 in funding from the Pasadena Angels.
· Lynx Bio: building a platform to rapidly identify effective treatment options for cancer patients by characterizing patient-individual cancer behavior and disease evolution, led by Chorom Pak who developed the technology while working on her Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology.
· Basepaws: developed the world's first at-home cat DNA test and building a new pet health brand focused on genetics and personalized nutrition. Anna Skaya is a founder with several successful exits and a Shark Tank participant who received $250,000 from Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec for Basepaws.
· Repurpose: makes high-quality, eco-friendly, compostable, affordable and disposable cups, plates, and utensils for everyday use. A follow-on investment led by CEO Lauren Gropper, Repurpose was listed #52 in INC.’s Fastest Growing Companies. Lauren is also consistently listed as one of the top female innovators in the US. We are proud to be an early investor in this innovative LACI backed company.
Our second milestone was our investment in 36 companies: 17 new and 19 follow-on. This is the largest number of companies since our founding. This gives our investing members greater diversity in their portfolios and more companies access to investments for growth.
Our last but very significant milestone was our investment of almost $2 million in life science companies. While we are industry-agnostic, our investment in the life science sector was due in large part to syndication partnerships with respected ecosystem partners The Cove Fund, Tech Coast Angels and Life Science Angels, among others. This marks an important shift in angel investing with many groups collaborating as deal sizes get larger. We anticipate a greater partnership among angel groups and seed stage ventures in the near future.
About the Pasadena Angels: The Pasadena Angels is Southern California’s most respected and connected group of accredited investors, ranked one of the top ten angel groups in the US by Forbes in 2015 and 2018 and Angel Research Institute in 2017. We invested more than $80 million dollars of early-stage capital in over 210 companies. Pasadena Angels funded companies have gone on to raise over $1 billion from additional funding sources such as venture capital and private equity. Recent notable exits for the Pasadena Angels are Mind Body Software (NASDAQ: MB) reaching $1 billion and Solium, acquired by Morgan Stanley for $900 million. We have the capital, expertise, and network of over 100 members to help entrepreneurs turn great ideas into great companies. The Pasadena Angels is committed to helping forward-thinking innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs with the mentorship and funding that fuels success. https://www.pasadenaangels.com/
