An angel fund in the Triangle recently surpassed its fundraising goal for early-stage companies.
The RTP Angel Fund announced it's raised more than $5 million in committed capital to be invested in early-stage companies. The fund invested in four companies this past year and expects to invest in 15 more in the next three years.
This member-managed fund focuses on high potential companies in the Research Triangle but is open to investments across North Carolina and the Southeast as well. The RTP Angel Fund also seeks to expand the diversity of early-stage investors, with over 50 percent of its more than 100 members being new to angel investing.
Forty percent of its members are also from underrepresented investor groups, according to a press release.
In the last 12 months, the fund received more than 260 applications, but only chose to invest in four startups:
- Voxel Innovations — Raleigh: electrochemical machining
- Deep Blue Medical Advances — Durham: surgical devices for tissue tension reinforcement and defect closure
- mPATH — Winston-Salem: automation for preventative care
- Scaleup — Atlanta: enables enterprises to accelerate growth of their supplies
RTP Angel Fund did not return Triangle Business Journal’s request for comment on how much the fund invested in the four companies.
The RTP Angel Fund’s founding team is made up of individuals from RTP Capital and Triangle Angel Partners. The board members are Ashish Sagrolikar, Elaine Bolle, Jan Davis, Mark Friedman, Mary Musacchia and Merrill Mason.
The organization has also been active with other local investors and incubators. Its members have been involved with NC IDEA, CED, Frontier, First Flight Venture Center and university entrepreneurial programs.
General Partner of the local Triangle Tweener Fund Scot Wingo has praised RTP Angel Fund for its attention to Triangle-based startups.
“We started the Tweener Fund in 2022 to help fill the gap in early-stage funding in the Triangle, and we're really excited that RTP Angel Fund has a similar vision and look forward to collaborating to grow the Triangle's startup ecosystem," Wingo said in the press release.