Archive for May 2018

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

ACA and angel investors celebrated victory this week at our nation’s capital as the bill to solve the “99 Investor Problem” passed the House of Representatives on Tuesday, May 22.  The resolution to the 99 investor problem is part of S.2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, which focuses on reducing the regulatory burden on community banks by rolling back Dodd-Frank regulations.  Included in the bill is a provision to raise the cap on the number of investors in angel funds and syndicates from 99 investors to 250 in funds of $10 million or less.  This piece of legislation passed with 258 votes, 33 Democrats voting in favor, so somewhat bipartisan.  The bill was signed by the President on Thursday, May 24, making it law (probably pending rule-making).

By: Ethel Rubin, PhD, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, NIH Office of the Director Office of Extramural Research

Thank you for welcoming me, my National Institutes of Health colleagues, and our four sponsored companies to your Annual Summit in Boston last month! It was a pleasure to speak with many of you in person, to learn more about angel investing and your respective sweet spots. We hope you learned more about NIH’s seed investment fund. National Institutes of Health invests over $1B funding available to life science companies annually in the form of grants and contracts.

But, the Institutes and Centers that comprise NIH have services that go beyond funding. Companies have used these types of additional resources and services for further development of their technologies towards commercialization. The product development enabling programs highlighted below allow small businesses to apply for free services – why shouldn’t your company utilize them?

By: Emily Angold, ACA Marketing Manager

Collaboration with smart angels to enhance our ecosystem is a top priority for ACA and many other angel organizations.  ACA recently signed cooperation agreements with two of our colleague angel associations, one with the European Business Angels Network (EBAN) and the other with Business Angels Europe (BAE).  The two agreements are similar, with the goals of sharing knowledge and content, and cooperating on events, among other things. 

By: Marianne Hudson, ACA Executive Director

ACA will have five new members joining the Board of Directors for a three-year term on July 1, 2018, Juliana Garaizar, Jim Goulka, Lorine Pendleton, Rick Timmins and Ron Weissman.  All were voted in at the ACA Annual Members’ Meeting during the ACA Summit in Boston.  The Board of Directors is made up of 15 members and four Chairs Emeritus. 

The Board of Directors focuses on supporting the success of angel investors through industry voice, professional development and public policy advocacy while maintaining the mission and values of the Angel Capital Association.  The incoming board members will bring a rich diversity of experiences, leadership and geography to the Board of Directors.  They will also assist ACA to grow and deliver more value to members.

By: Ham Lord, Managing Director of Launchpad Venture Group and Co-Founder of Seraf-investor.com

Note: This article is the first in an ongoing series on venture fund formation and management. To learn more about managing a fund, download this free eBook today Venture Capital: A Practical Guide or purchase a hard copy desk reference at Amazon.com.

Whether traveling for business or pleasure, I enjoy visiting ancient historic sites around the world. During a recent trip, I had the occasion to visit Byblos in Lebanon. This ancient city was first settled as far back as 8800 BC, and is considered the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Built as the first city of the ancient Phoenicians, Byblos thrived through many millennia under the rule of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and was a wealthy city known for shipbuilding and trading. Entrepreneurship was alive and thriving in Byblos over five thousand years ago!

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ACA On the Road by Angel Capital Association  on  March 11
ACA Announces Keynote Speaker for Summit: Kwame Anku by Angel Capital Association  on  March 08