NYA News - July 2025: $4.8 million in 6 months2 new investments, big awards for Kidas and Payoneer, interviews with ChillSkyn's Patrick Racine and NYA's Doug Pearson
With the first six months of the year underway, New York Angels Members have surpassed their investment at this time last year. NYA has also seen significant increasement in engagement in both formal meetings and social activities this year. While NYA takes a break from our Screening and Investment Forum meetings in August, keep an eye out for our next newsletter in September that will recap the remainder of the summer.
Read some of the highlights over the past month from New York Angels Members, Portfolio Companies, and other partners:
In the first half of the year, New York Angels Members invested $4.8 million.
JUNE INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
Mother's Milk Is Best developed its Human Milk Concentration Device that will revolutionize neonatal feeding by concentrating mother’s milk to enhance feedings, promote growth, and strengthen immunity. The device removes water from the milk without compromising its nutritional integrity, resulting in a nutrient dense, concentrated volume to support optimized feedings. The deal was led by Seth Masters and Ray Farrell.
Solidec extracts molecular building blocks from air and water, then upgrades them into pure chemicals and fuels without any fossil emissions. Solidec’s platform of technologies is designed to capture carbon and manufacture chemicals using only air, water, and renewable electricity. Tom Hirschfeld and Alexandra Jenkins were the deal leads for Solidec.
FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT
After decades of working in corporate and private equity, Patrick Racine co-founded ChillSkyn to provide sustainable cooling technologies that block solar radiation from converting into heat. As climate change continues to increase, ChillSkyn offers an eco-friendly solution that reduces energy expenses and provides electricity-free cooling for trucking, warehouses, shelters and other applications. Patrick shares ChillSkyn's experience with TandemLaunch, the company's unique appeal to angel investors, and their race to be first in market.
COMPANY NEWS
KIDAS
Kidas was honored at the 2025 AI Breakthrough Awards for the Best Overall Use of AI in Gaming. Kidas protects young gamers by using advanced AI technology to monitor and mitigate cyberbullying, online predators, and other digital threats in multi-player voice and text chats. See All Breakthrough AI Winners
COMPANY NEWS PAYONEER
Payoneer recently won two awards at the 2025 BusinessWorld Fintech Awards recognizing how their global payment solution offers secure online and international payments and helps businesses grow beyond borders.
🥇 GOLD - Payment Solution of the Year
🥈 SILVER - Fintech Brand of the Year Read about the 2025 BW Fintech Awards
NYA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Doug Pearson joined New York Angels in 2019 and became a NYA Board Member earlier this year. Doug is also a member of TCA and hopes to help connect the two leading angel groups to improve deal flow despite being on opposite coasts. His collaboration with Alyssa Tam for the Plug and Play Preview Days has helped build the angel ecosystem across dozens of angel groups. Doug discusses how he joined NYA’s board, the unique role angel investors play vs. VC and PE firms, and why angel groups should collaborate to become more effective.
MEMBER EVENTS HOW TO LEAD A DEAL
Leading a deal is one of the most important ways to be involved as a New York Angel Member. The NYA Member Engagement Team hosted a session on How to Lead a Deal. As experienced deal leads, Steve Kapner and Tom Hirschfeld shared how to prep for Discovery, how to run an effective diligence process. NYA Members discussed their top lessons learned and potential critical issues that they have seen in recent deals.
CRUNCHBASE THE ROLE OF ANGEL INVESTOR SYNDICATES IN STRENGTHENING EMERGING STARTUP ECOSYSTEMS
Angel investor syndicates are becoming a powerful force in shaping startup ecosystems, especially in emerging markets. Most business angels are successful entrepreneurs looking for new investments. Unlike venture capitalists, they don’t invest full time, but angel syndicates can serve as an ideal gateway for venture investing.
Key factors that drive investor engagement and syndicate growth:
1. Strong leadership and credibility
2. Significant personal investment
3. User-friendly investment process
UPCOMING MEMBER MEETINGS
Investment Forum (Hybrid):
• July 28th (9:00 AM - 12:30 PM)
September Screening (Hybrid):
• September 8th (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
FOUNDER DEADLINES
September Screening Application:
• August 11th
*New York Angels, Inc. ("NYA") is a not-for-profit corporation that is funded by membership dues for individuals and/or entities that NYA has designated as members as well as from certain sponsors. Its purposes include providing administrative support to its members. NYA does not invest in companies. Investments, if made, are made by individual members of NYA.
