Meet Our Partners and Sponsors

ACA is proud to work with partners and sponsors who support and add tremendous value to the angel investment field. Learn more about how they can help you:

ACA PARTNERS

PENSCO Trust Company, founded in 1989, is an IRA custodian providing services to IRA account holders investing in many alternative assets including real estate, private equity and promissory notes.

Founded in 1984, APCO Worldwide is an independent global communication, stakeholder engagement and business strategy firm with offices in more than 30 major cities throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. We challenge conventional thinking and inspire movements to help our clients succeed in an ever-changing world. Stakeholders are at the core of all we do. We turn the insights that come from our deep stakeholder relationships into forward-looking, creative solutions that always push the boundaries of communication. APCO clients include large multinational companies, trade associations, governments, NGOs and educational institutions. The firm is a majority women-owned business. For more information, please visit www.apcoworldwide.com.

Dell Inc.
As the visionary outcome of a true entrepreneur, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) is committed to help power the success of entrepreneurs by developing technology solutions that help their businesses increase productivity and grow. Through the Entrepreneur in Residence program, Dell supports and nurtures the community of entrepreneurs by helping provide access to knowledge, networks, and capital. Learn more at www.dell.com/eir.

Foley Hoag, LLP provides comprehensive legal services to clients throughout the United States and around the world. We serve a wide range of industries including technology, life sciences, healthcare, energy and renewables, venture capital, private equity, and hedge funds. With 225 lawyers located in Boston, Washington DC, and the Emerging Enterprise Center in Waltham MA, we provide corporate, private equity, securities, intellectual property, employment and real estate services to numerous leading angel organizations. Visit us at www.foleyhoag.com.

Gust's software provides a secure system to manage angel group deal flow and syndication with other angel groups and smart investors. The platform allows angel groups to capture deals, process them through a customizable work-flow process and collaborate with other investors. As the official platform of the world's leading angel and venture associations, Gust is the industry standard. For entrepreneurs, Gust provides the complete tool set for professional investor relations from pitch to exit. www.gust.com.

The ProSeeder funding platform equips Angel Groups and VC firms with an enterprise solution that manages the complete deal process and all Angel Group operations.  Boasting a fully integrated VDR (Virtual Data Room) for due diligence, social media networking features for member events and payments, tasks and messaging, ProSeeder provides the necessary operational tools to efficiently move deals from screening to the closing binder.  Syndicate with confidence, as ProSeeder controls and tracks access to all internal documents and communications.  ProSeeder is Your platform, at Your web domain, fully branded and customized for You.

Premier Summit Sponsors

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services External Web Site Policy , is the nation's medical research agency-making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.  NIH is the largest source of funding for medical research in the world, creating hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs by funding thousands of scientists in universities and research institutions in every state across America and around the globe.  NIH is made up of 27 Institutes and Centers, each with a specific research agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems. NIH leadership plays an active role in shaping the agency's research planning, activities, and outlook.

PLSG invests in and supports the growth of biosciences companies in western Pennsylvania. PLSG has a track record of excellence when it comes to attracting and growing life sciences companies in the region. Since its inception in 2002, the PLSG has invested $19 million in 76 companies which has leveraged nearly $900 million in additional capital to the region. The PLSG portfolio of companies represents an aggregate market valuation which the PLSG believes it conservatively estimates at nearly $2 billion. The PLSG has assisted 400 life sciences companies and has helped create or retain nearly 6,000 jobs in western Pennsylvania. In addition, 34 companies or venture capital firms have been provided with office or laboratory space and 13 have been relocated to Pittsburgh from outside of the region.

Reed Smith represents many of the world's leading companies in complex litigation and other high-stakes disputes, cross-border and other strategic transactions, and crucial regulatory matters.  With lawyers from coast-to-coast in the United States, as well as in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Reed Smith is known for its experience across a broad array of industry sectors. Reed Smith counsels 13 of the world's 15 largest commercial and savings banks; 25 of the world's 35 largest oil and gas companies; and the world's three largest pharmaceutical distribution and wholesale companies. Reed Smith's shipping practice has been designated among the most preeminent in the world, and its advertising law practice is regarded as among the legal industry's finest.

Seedrs is the world’s leading equity crowdfunding platform. We make it simple for anyone—from angels and venture capitalists, to friends and family—to become investors in ambitious, growth-oriented, European businesses. Through Seedrs, people can share in the success of companies they believe in. You can invest as little or as much as you like, and we handle all of the legal documentation and due diligence to ensure that businesses are set up for success—and investors get their fair share.

SUMMIT SPONSORS

Amazon Web Services offers a broad set of global compute, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services that help organizations move faster, lower IT costs, and scale applications. To help new customers get started in the Cloud, Amazon Web Services offers a free usage tier. The free tier can be used for anything you want to run in the cloud: launch new applications, test existing applications in the Cloud, or simply gain hands-on experience with AWS.

With nearly 160,000 members, the American Chemical Society is the world’s largest scientific society and one of the leading sources of authoritative scientific information.  The ACS Entrepreneurial Resources Center is the only virtual business accelerator specializing in helping early-stage, chemistry-related companies bring their innovation to market. We've served over 100 startups in chemistry-related areas including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, nanotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics, telemedicine, green tech, semiconductor, photovoltaic, electronics, cosmetics, and many more.  ACS affiliated companies pitch to angel investors and technology scouts at semiannual “Showcases.” The next one will be on April 21, 2015 at Janssen R&D in San Diego. Find out more at www.acs.org/erc.

Appster provides a broad suite of “Technical co-founder” services for startups.  As the fastest growing company of our kind in Australia, the company has expanded to the US based out of San Francisco and is growing rapidly.  We partner with entrepreneurs and early stage companies to provide consulting, mentorship, networking, introductions, training workshops, mobile app and website development, growth hacking and other services.  Our model allows for a startup to get to market faster and cheaper and more comprehensively than ever before possible.  This model dramatically reduces the initial cash required, decreases time to market and overall reduces the risk for investors in the business.  We provide our services without taking equity during the time when that is a company’s most precious asset. 

The Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) is the leading economic development organization with a streamlined mission to grow and strengthen Arizona’s economy. The ACA uses a three-pronged approach to advance the overall economy: recruit, grow, create – recruit out-of-state companies to expand their operations in Arizona; work with existing companies to grow their business in Arizona and beyond; and partner with entrepreneurs and companies large and small to create new jobs and businesses in targeted industries.

Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges.

Dow (NYSE: DOW) combines the power of science and technology to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress. The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity.

Early IQ, Inc helps angels and angel groups with the critical step of early stage private investment – thorough background diligence – while also enabling compliance with new SEC regulations requiring Bad Actor screening and disclosure. Our next generation, 100% online, custom diligence reports give you unprecedented transparency into the company and management team backgrounds of your target investment. All the essential elements including; company verification, civil and criminal record access, degree verification, identity validation, and regulatory compliance checking, are included in a simple, cohesive, and comprehensive online report. For a limited time, ACA members receive 50% off their first EarlyIQ report.

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is one of the largest and most highly ranked law firms in the U.S., with approximately 1800 attorneys in 37 offices in the US, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.  Greenberg Traurig’s Emerging Technologies Team has over 100 attorneys in 20 offices committed to servicing the needs of entrepreneurs and investors, and offers clients access points to hubs of global innovation.  Greenberg Traurig has in-depth knowledge across multiple industries and legal disciplines, a value-added “entrepreneur-in-residence” program that provides guidance for navigating the capital-raising process, and a firm-wide program to facilitate introductions between start-ups, investors and strategic partners.  

IRA Services Trust Company is the ideal choice for individuals to use their 401k and IRA retirement accounts for investments in a wide range of non-exchange traded assets.  These include real estate, hedge funds, venture funds, limited partnerships (LPs), limited liability companies (LLCs), closely-held stock, deeds of trust, mortgage notes, promissory notes, real estate investment trusts (REITs), precious metals, tax liens as well as brokerage accounts for exchanged traded public stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.  With over 35 years of unmatched knowledge and experience, our clients have the security and safety of working with the market and technology leader in the industry.  If you are looking for the highest level of service with maximum security and the lowest fees, then IRA Services Trust Company provides you with the opportunity to leverage your Retirement Savings Accounts for investments with more choices and more control.

JACKSON Wealth Management is a goals based, planning driven, full service, fee based Wealth Management Firm; supplementing its traditional core portfolio with alternative assets to meet client's life goals and risk tolerance.

JACKSON Wealth Management is currently accepting clients. Please email or call to inquire about how to become a client at david.Jackson@jacksonwmg.com

K&L Gates practices out of 48 fully integrated offices located in the United States, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and South America and represents leading global corporations, growth and middle-market companies, capital markets participants and entrepreneurs in every major industry group as well as public sector entities, educational institutions, philanthropic organizations and individuals. For more information about K&L Gates or its locations, practices and registrations, visit www.klgates.com.

Founded in 2000, Keiretsu Forum is the world’s largest angel investor network with over 1400 accredited investor members throughout 35chapters on three continents. Keiretsu Forum Members collaborate in the due diligence of presenting companies, but make individual investment decisions with $400m invested in over 300 companies to date ($160M in Northwest) in technology, consumer products, life sciences, real estate, and other high growth segments. Presenting entrepreneurs consistently find high value in our extensive resources, feedback, mentoring, and funding while Investor Members enjoy well-screened, quality deal flow, group mindshare in evaluating deals, and association in a powerful, intelligent group of professionals. Additionally, the Keiretsu Forum community is strengthened through angel investor education events, social opportunities, and charitable giving. 

Megatel Capital Investment (MCI)  is a professional lending services company specializing in providing financial services to the home building industry. Based on research and findings of the current real estate market and economic trends, MCI believes that there will be continual growth in the foreseeable future for buyer demand of quality homes. Our efforts are currently focused on providing the capital needed to develop quality-built, custom home communities in fast-growing population centers primarily in Texas and Oklahoma. Megatel Capital Investment is part of the Megatel Homes family of companies. Megatel Homes is a second-generation custom home builder headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company currently has seventy active communities with ongoing and active home building within the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with anticipated growth to over 100 active communities by the end of 2015.

Millennium Trust Company is a leading financial services company offering niche alternative custody solutions to institutions, advisors and individuals. We serve as a complement to services offered by other custodians. Our innovative solutions include rollover solutions, alternative asset custody, private fund custody and advisor support solutions. Millennium Trust performs the duties of a directed custodian and, as such, does not perform due diligence on prospective investments, sponsors or service providers and does not sell investments or provide investment, tax or legal advice.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) was created to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense. The NSF Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships (IIP) has a mission to enhance our nation’s economic competitiveness by catalyzing the transformation of discovery into societal benefits through stimulating partnerships and promoting learning environments for innovators.  IIP through the NSF SBIR/STTR programs supports approximately $120 million per year in seed grants to facilitate innovation in the small business community.

OurCrowd is the world's largest equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors to invest in Israeli and global companies. Managed by a team of investment professionals and led by entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital and brings these startups to its accredited membership. Investors meet stringent accreditation criteria and invest a minimum of $10,000 per deal of their choice.  OurCrowd has raised over $100 million in equity crowdfunding for its 60 portfolio companies which include: Borro, BillGuard, Consumer Physics, BioCatch, Abe’s Market and ReWalk, OurCrowd’s first portfolio company to complete a successful IPO on the NASDAQ.

Pathable's award-winning community and attendee directory for events has helped hundreds of conferences, congresses and trade shows provide their attendees with a world-class networking experience. Pathable's community and mobile app provide a destination for attendees to discuss, schedule private meetings, plan their conference agenda, map out their tradeshow visit and much more.  Pathable communities allow people to start connecting months before an event begins, stay plugged in at the event itself and then continue the conversations and engagement long after the convention center has been locked and swept clean.  Visit Pathable.com for a tour today.

In 1837 founders William Procter and James Gamble created an innovative partnership to pool resources and procure ingredients for their separate candle and soap-making businesses. Today, P&G is the largest consumer goods company in the world with 300 brands that include some of the most trusted household products. Twenty-five of these brands each generate more than $1 billion dollars in annual sales. The Company's products are sold in over 180 countries around the world, serving approximately 4.8 billion people. P&G is a Company built on innovation, dedicated to consumer understanding and driven to touch and improve lives. Visit www.pg.com for more information about P&G and its brands.

At Transaction Commons, we're passionate about streamlining the deal process. Developed by a team of experienced transaction attorneys and executives, Transaction Commons is the neutral and secure site where authorized individuals can access, review, and negotiate all the key documents for their specific investment deal - from due diligence through the final term sheet. Transaction Commons is the secure and easy to use tool for all types of sensitive multi-party financial transactions, including: angel investments, private equity and venture capital investments, mergers and acquisitions, joint venture agreements and credit agreements. For more information, visit our website at www.transactioncommons.com.

Interested in sponsoring or partnering with ACA at the Summit or another activity? More information about Summit sponsorship opportunities is available by contacting ACA Partnership Director Villette Nolon.