St. Louis Arch Angels surpass $100M in startup investment

The St. Louis Arch Angels have surpassed $100 million in total investment provided to companies, a major milestone for the startup investment group.

As of the end of 2020, the Arch Angels have invested $101 million in 111 startups, according to its newly released annual report. The organization, founded in 2005, is an independent network of angel investors that makes seed and early stage investments. The bulk of the Arch Angels' funding has been provided to companies based in St. Louis and the Midwest.

The Arch Angels topped the $100 million figure thanks to $8.7 million it provided in 2020 through follow-on capital and new investments in startups. The organization last year backed 17 companies, which included 13 existing portfolio firms and four new investments.

"Over the past 16 years we invested over $101 Million in 111 different entities. While the challenges of last year clearly impacted our portfolio companies, we did see one exit, Canopy, and now have renewed confidence that more are on the horizon. We will continue to invest in the St. Louis startup ecosystem as we work together to invest for success while working through the final stages of this challenging environment,” said Arch Angels Chairman Brian Kinman.

Of the 111 firms it has backed, the Arch Angel said 86 of those investments are still active. Since its launch in 2005, the Arch Angels have had 12 exits, including for St. Louis firms Confluence Life Sciences, Venti and Galera Therapeutics. Its latest exit came in 2020 with the sale of St. Louis-based Canopy Biosciences to Billerica, Massachusetts-based scientific instrument maker Bruker Corp.

Here’s a look at the startup funding deals made by the Arch Angels in 2020:

Follow-on funding deals

New portfolio companies