The end of the year has always been a busy season for New York Angels members, but this past month, New York Angels had one of our largest investment months in our 18-year history. Read through our November newsletter to learn more about the exciting investments individual members have made, another company exit, and Board Member Barbara Moore's advice for founders pitching to investors.
TOTAL OCTOBER INVESTMENTS
New York Angels members have invested an exceptional $10.4M in the month of October.
OCTOBER INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
New View Surgical
NYA member John Younger led NYA individual members through one of their biggest investments to date in New View Surgical. From early on NYA members have had an opportunity to track New View Surgical's consistent progress and to develop a great relationship with the management team. New View Surgical is redefining and simplifying laparoscopic surgery through the innovative development of VisionPort. New View Surgical is introducing the first truly major advancement in minimally invasive surgery visualization since the development of the video computer chip three decades ago that allowed surgeons to view surgery on a TV monitor. VisionPort significantly changes how minimally invasive surgery is performed but also importantly allows health systems to rethink the necessity of conventional and capital-intensive imaging equipment.
MobileMonkey
In less than 30 days, NYA member Phillip Thune led New York Angels individual members to close their first investment in MobileMonkey. New York Angels members were attracted to MobileMonkey's proprietary sales outreach automation and influencer/creator and B2C data prospecting platform. MobileMonkey has grown rapidly this year and should continue in 2023 and beyond. In addition to being a brilliant online marketer, Larry Kim, MobileMonkey CEO and Founder, sold his last company Wordstream for $150m. NYA members made the second biggest investment in MobileMonkey's Series A-2 Round behind ScOp, a VC led by Kevin O'Connor, who founded DoubleClick. Due to the high level of interest in MobileMonkey, New York Angels sidecar fund also invested.
Fuego Dance
New York Angels members made its second investment in a little over a year in Fuego, Inc. Margot Malin and Dan Pitkowsky led the recent Convertible Seed Note round in Fuego Dance as NYA members continue to be impressed with the vision, focus, entrepreneurial attributes and grit of the founder, Kevin Weschler. Fuego launched the world's best dance sneaker (patented) in 2019. The soles of the shoes are engineered for moving and grooving on any surface; dual pivot points boost the dancer's ability to spin. Fuego collaborates with several well known dancers to bring their unique styles to market, and continues to launch breakthrough innovation in dance footwear, like the new "split-sole" sneaker launched this past summer.
Neuvotion
NYA member, Michael Gibbons built a strong connection with Neuvotion CEO and Founder Chad Bouton last year during NYA members' first investment in the seed round, and consequently invested again in the recent follow-on round. Neuvotion is an early-stage medical device company developing neurostimulation products for the rehabilitation and physical therapy markets. Its NeuStim technology combines highly targeted neurostimulation and artificial intelligence to make physical and occupational therapy more effective and efficient.
COMPANY EXIT
ADSTASH
Admoni, the leading programmatic digital out-of-home advertising planning and buying platform, acquired AdStash for its proprietary technology stack consisting of a supply-side platform, content management system, and suite of measurement solutions. Admoni's CEO stated that the key driver of the acquisition was the AdStash team, which consisted of the sharpest minds in the programmatic digital out-of-home arena. This same team is what attracted New York Angels individual members to invest in the company as well. Read More
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
After a decades-long investment banking career, NYA Board member Barbara Moore began early-stage investing in 2009 and joined New York Angels in 2014. As a CFA® Charterholder, Barbara also chairs the investment committees of pension funds and endowments, deploying their funds in more traditional asset classes. She shares her thoughts on the depth of her colleagues’ expertise at NYA, key factors that influence her investment decisions and advice for founders pitching to investors. Read More
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS XRC LABS Diana Melencio
In this past Forum, XRC Labs Partner Diana Melencio, shared how to successfully invest in consumer goods, despite being a difficult industry to invest in as seen by recent underperforming IPOs and struggles after acquisition by a strategic. XRC Labs is a leading innovation accelerator for retail technology and consumer goods and maintains key partnerships with The Estée Lauder Companies Inc., Mastercard, The TJX Companies, Inc. and GS1. Learn more about XRC Labs
MEMBER PERSPECTIVES MXENE John Younger
At the 2nd Annual MXene Global Conference, NYA member John Younger moderated a panel of early-stage material science entrepreneurs discussing their strategy around commercialization and early-stage financing. MXenes are transition metal carbides that can be synthesized as 2D sheets. The more widely known 2D material, graphene, is beginning to enjoy commercial usage, while MXenes, although much earlier in their life cycle, hold similar promise.
MEMBER PERSPECTIVES NYA MEMBERS BIGGEST LESSONS AS ANGEL INVESTORS
This month, we asked New York Angels members: What is the biggest lesson you've learned as an angel investor? Read a compilation of several of their responses. Read More
UPCOMING MEMBER MEETINGS
Screening (Virtual):
• November 30 (9:30 AM - 1:30 PM)
Investment Forum (Hybrid):
• December 12 (9:30 AM - 1:00 PM)
FOUNDER DEADLINES
January 4th Screening Application:
• Due December 7
*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.
