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May is historically one of the busiest months for New York Angels Members with the annual Angel Capital Association Summit, Tandem Launch Demo Day and the emergence of summer networking. Looking back at April, NYA also had an extremely busy month.
In this month's newsletter we have added a new section which highlights a founder of one of our investments. Read this month's Founder Spotlight featuring Allstar CEO & Co-Founder Nick Cuomo. The newsletter also covers 3 of our April investments, NYA member Dan Pitkowsky's eye-opening experience, NYA Assistant Director Jon Zaikowski's tips on how to value your startup, and why Series C funding has drastically declined in Q1 2023.
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New York Angels members invested $1.5m in April.
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APRIL INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
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MEASURE STUDIO
Measure Studio is a user-friendly, Generative AI-based social media data intelligence and analytics suite for publishers, brands, and influencers. Several leading brands, agencies, and media companies, including Mattel, BBC Studios, and IGN, have already adopted the software because its cross-platform social media data tracking is easy-to-use and applicable across many industries. NYA led the Series Seed Preferred round, which was the first round of outside financing since the company was formed. Michael Costa and Seth Masters rallied NYA Members to invest in less than four months from initial pitch. The company also secured strong support from NYA due to CEO and Co-Founder Thomas Kramer's deep domain expertise and effective marketing of the SaaS service. The co-founders had also bootstrapped their prior company to a successful exit.
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FIXE
For the first time, FIXE is fundraising with external partners, and NYA is leading the deal. FIXE offers a simple and affordable solution to restaurant bookkeeping. NYA Members were impressed with FIXE's rapid growth driven by their focus on the niche of restauranteurs not having the time or desire to do their own bookkeeping. Ryan Handel, CEO & Co-Founder of FIXE, started the company based on his past challenges with bookkeeping as an ex-restauranteur. FIXE has the potential for significant growth leveraging increased use of technology and offshore labor. Simon Hopkins and Jon Tiktinsky led the deal. |
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MATERIAL
NYA Members invested for the first time in Material in their Series A. Material offers innovative kitchen essentials for the modern home cook. Led by Alyssa Tam and Bruce Kaminstein, NYA Members invested based on Material's products, design-driven approach, the company's traction and business projections, and most importantly the very dedicated and driven founders. The Co-Founders, Eunice Byun and Dave Ngyuyen, understand their business and space well while also being down-to-earth and honest. The two have a clear vision for the short- and long-term growth of Material. As NYA continues to support female and underrepresented minorities in business, Material is another important investment for NYA members. |
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As a former professional gamer, Nick Cuomo, CEO and Co-Founder of Allstar, turned his love for video content into a viable business that is currently raising their Series A. Allstar is a gaming content creation platform that turns game data seamlessly into video content. Its proprietary technology offers fun, powerful creator tools that produce video content for gamers effectively out of thin air, giving them a no touch content creation experience. Today, Allstar has over 1.1 million monthly active users, and its users are creating over 2.4 million highlights. 100% of their growth right now is organic. Nick shares how NYA invested in Allstar’s Seed round despite other fundraising challenges, why early-stage investors should focus on the company’s team, and the key factors to Allstar’s success-to-date.
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COMPANY NEWS
NEW VIEW SURGICAL
Medtech Outlook Magazine recognized New View Surgical as one of the Top 10 Companies to Watch in 2023. The annual award recognizes companies that are on the forefront of providing surgical devices solutions and impacting the industry. New View Surgical is driven by the mission to advance minimally invasive surgery and improve clinical care, streamline process, and reduce costs for healthcare systems worldwide.
Read About Award
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COMPANY NEWS
TRUE MADE FOODS
D.C. United, one of the founding and most decorated Major League Soccer teams, announced a new partnership with True Made Foods. True Made Foods will offer their irresistibly delicious, no sugar added Ketchup and BBQ Sauces at D.C. United's 20,000 seat stadium, Audi Field. As a veteran-owned company, their partnership with D.C. United will support both athletics and community events.
Read Announcement
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Since joining NYA in 2019, Dan Piktowsky has been an active member leading and co-leading deals. Dan is a proven business improvement executive with over 30 years in Corporate America, as a consultant and line manager with P&L experience. As an angel investor, Dan also leverages his prior experiences as an independent business co-owner and operator to coach founders through operational transformation to improve financial performance. Dan shares an eye-opening experience in his early days of NYA, why it’s important for founders to identify the best time to fundraise, and advice for newer NYA members.
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MEMBER PERSPECTIVES
HOW TO VALUE YOUR STARTUP
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NYA Assistant Director Jon Zaikowski discusses how to value your startup. Jon draws from his experiences as one of NYA's key leaders and his prior career as a co-founder to share best practices and tips to determine a company’s valuation. These tips will help founders through one of the most difficult aspects of fundraising.
Read Blog
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MEMBER PERSPECTIVES
INVESTING IN UNDERREPRESENTED FOUNDERS
Benny Lorenzo
NYA member Benny Lorenzo shares why investing in underrepresented founders is important to the community. Benny further discusses statistics on how entrepreneurs of color are underfunded and the lack of diversity in VCs.
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MEMBER PERSPECTIVES
THE IMPORTANCE OF AI LITERACY IN SOCIETY
Armen Kherlopian
NYA Member Dr. Armen Kherlopian provides a TEDx Talk on AI Literacy. In the talk, Armen explains the importance of AI literacy for the future of society and what steps we need to take on the path to becoming AI literate.
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COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
TIA VENTURES
Wills Hapworth
In our NYA April Monthly Forum, Wills Hapworth, TIA Ventures co-founder and general partner, discussed why the customer is a company's most precious asset. TIA Ventures accelerates the growth of seed stage companies by identifying visceral product / market fit and bringing the customer to the forefront of the process.
Learn More About TIA
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COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
SEPSIS NEEDS DIAGNOSTIC STARTUPS
SHOCK Journal
NYA recently appeared in the March issue of the SHOCK Journal. NYA Member John Younger writes about the need for diagnostic startups in sepsis. To increase the likelihood of new diagnostic and endotyping tool making it into patient care, inventors can expand their network, begin conversations, and schedule regular check-ins with potential investors.
Read Journal Article
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COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
ENTREPRENEURS ROUNDTABLE ACCELERATOR
NYA Private Pre-Demo Day
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ERA, New York's largest accelerator program, held its Demo Day last week. ERA hosted a 2-hour session at their offices exclusively for NYA to meet the 14 showcased companies. NYA members were excited by the potential of many companies in the graduating class and will be further evaluating nearly half of the graduating class.
Read More About ERA's Demo Day
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CRUNCHBASE NEWS
SERIES C ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE
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While venture funding is down across all stages, Series C funding is down 74% in the first quarter of 2023 from year-ago levels. Fewer companies have raised Series B rounds, so this trend in Series C declines may continue longer-term. Series C fundraising can be more difficult because companies must have a superior product and management team, as well as a clear path to exit.
Read Article
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UPCOMING MEMBER MEETINGS
Investment Forum (Hybrid):
• May 15th (9:30 AM - 1:30 PM)
June Screening (Virtual):
• May 31st (9:30 AM - 1:30 PM)
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FOUNDER DEADLINES
May 31st Screening Application:
• Due May 10th
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