Citrine Angels, a D.C.-based angel investment group focused on female-founded and or -led startups, is teaming with Arlington Economic Development (AED) to offer free informational events for local entrepreneurs.
Citrine Angels will host its first of these events on March 5 at Northeastern University's Rosslyn campus with a focus on helping founders determine if venture capital is right for their startup. Among the other topics to be covered throughout the year include: preparing for venture capital investment; building a strong executive leadership team; and understanding the region's broader innovation ecosystem.
Describing itself as one of the largest female-focused angel investing groups in the Mid-Atlantic, Citrine Angels is positioning itself to take on a larger relevance in the Greater Washington startup scene.
Last October, it announced it had invested over $1 million into startup companies since its founding in 2019. Half of Citrine's portfolio firms are based in the D.C. region.
"Programs like the upcoming series are vital to the community as they educate and connect like-minded groups," Stephanie Marshall, co-founder and board president of Citrine Angels, said in a statement. "We look forward to working together to build and support the community and encourage others to join us."
AED is backing the effort with some of the $350,000 it has allocated for startup event programming, which is derived from the $1 million Arlington Innovation Fund that primarily offers catalyst grants to early-stage startups. On Tuesday, AED announced the first five startups to receive investment from this fund and is taking applications for a second cohort until March 10.
"We see the catalyst grant as one component that's really showing Arlington's commitment to building a leading innovation hub here in the region as well as nationally," Michael Stiefvater, a director of the business investment group at AED, told me earlier this week. "I think we're very proud of the program and hope that this first cohort as well as a second cohort will have some incredible successes come out of it."
The free events are open to entrepreneurs throughout Greater Washington.
