NYA News - Feb 2025 - $731k Invested, New Perspectives on AIInterviews with NYA's Tom Hirschfeld and Material Co-Founder and CEO Eunice Byun, Investments in ChillSkyn and Linebird, New Perspectives on AI
While New York Angels members are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead, January was a strong month with $731k in investment. With the start of the year, NYA members look forward to continuing to drive new membership and greater deal flow in 2025.
To kick off the year, NYA Members invested $731k in January across a new investment and follow-ons.
JANUARY INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
New York Angels Members continue to invest in companies that are committed to sustainability. ChillSkyn has designed its proprietary PolyFrost technology to provide superior cooling efficiency across a wide range of applications, including refrigerated transportation, electronic enclosures, and battery energy storage systems. PolyFrost uses advanced nanostructured coatings to deliver zero-energy cooling solutions, drastically reducing energy consumption. NYA has been a long-time partner with TandemLaunch, and ChillSkyn is the latest deal to result from this partnership. Ed Levine and Simon Hopkins managed this deal.
This January, NYA Members invested in Linebird, which has revolutionized electric transmission line maintenance by applying drone technology to that dangerous and labor-intensive work. Linebird specializes in combining overhead powerline tools with non-conductive drone adaptation kits. NYA members were attracted to this follow-on round by the company's continuing success both in winning business from major utility companies and in attracting significant nondilutive grant funding. The round was led by Michael Brennan and Tom Hirschfeld.
FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT
Eunice Byun, Co-Founder and CEO of Material, launched the company to create beautifully designed kitchen essentials that are made for everyday but built to last a lifetime. In this interview, Eunice shares why it’s important to have diversity of investors across the cap table, why fundraising is like kissing a lot of frogs, and how Material has stayed true to its core over the last seven years.
COMPANY NEWS
AUTOMOTUS
Automotus is partnering with LACI and several other partners for the second City Climate Innovation Challenge. The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation awarded LACI $3 million in federal funding to tackle the challenge of charging infrastructure needs, expanding accessibility for privately owned e-mobility. Read Announcement
COMPANY NEWS COPYLEAKS
The Copyleaks AI Detector has won the Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence: Best of 2024 within the Higher Education category. The AI detector was recognized for its 99% accuracy and that it is trusted by top organizations worldwide and backed by independent studies. See All Winners
COMPANY NEWS
FIRSTDUE
FirstDue is an end-to-end software solution for Fire and EMS that provides them with critical location and scene data for better, faster decision making. FirstDue was included in the 2025 GovTech 100 list for being one of the top technology companies serving state and local governments. Read Press Release
COMPANY NEWS GOLDILOCK
Goldilock won Dragon's Den showcase 'Supplier Innovation' award at the Constellia Customer Summit 2025. The award regonized the best companies for their innovative solutions that are driving positive change across the public sector. See List of Finalists
COMPANY NEWS
IC360 (US INTEGRITY)
An NBA Star Terry Rozier is under investigation for involvement in suspicious betting activity around his performance in a March 2023 game. As one of the Hornet's best players, who usually averaged 35 minutes and 21 points per game, Terry only played 9 minutes. IC360 (US Integrity) notified the NBA and sportsbooks about unusual bets on his performance and failing to meet certain statistical benchmarks, such as the total number of points or rebounds he would record in the game. During the previous two seasons, U.S. Integrity sent out just three alerts about NBA games - two of those were about games involving Porter, who has since been banned from the NBA and the other was this game involving Rozier. Read Article
NYA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Tom Hirschfeld joined New York Angels almost two years ago, and he has been an active member ever since. With Tom’s ten years in venture capital, eleven as Chief Operating Officer of Halcyon Asset Management, and forty in financial services overall. Tom brings a wealth of experience and a strong network to NYA. Tom shares why founders need to fail to be successful and his experience co-leading a $2.5 million round with ProSentry.
MEMBER CONTENT NEW PERSPECTIVES ON AI AGENTIALITY AND DEMOCRACY: "WHOM DOES IT SERVE?"
New York Angel Member Richard Reisman alongside Richard Whitt, the founder of GLIA Foundation, recently published in Tech Policy Press about how new and stronger relationship framings are needed to ensure that AI serves humanity. The article discusses the two functional dimensions of AI agency, the social pillars of agentiality, and bringing individual and collective agency to AI-interoperation.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
LDV SUMMIT 2025
On March 25, 2025, the 11th Annual LDV Vision Summit will be held virtually. Since 2014, the Annual LDV Vision Summit has been the premier global event for visual tech and AI, featuring top speakers from tech giants, innovative startups, esteemed research labs, and leading VC firms. This year's lineup includes experts from Sequoia Capital, NVIDIA, Synthesia, Kleiner Perkins, Princeton, Fortune, Duke, Argonne National Laboratory, and more! Register Now
ANGEL CAPITAL ASSOCIATION
ALTO PARTNERS WITH ACA FOR EARLY-STAGE INVESTMENT OPTIONS
Self-directed IRA platform Alto struck a partnership with Angel Capital Association (ACA), a professional association of angel investors, to help its clients access a greater range of alternative assets. ACA Members deploy more than $650 million in early-stage capital annually. The partnership will provide ACA’s members with increased access to early-stage investments while maximizing tax-advantaged strategies. Read Full Article
UPCOMING MEMBER MEETINGS
Investment Forum (Hybrid):
• February 24th (9:00 AM - 12:30 PM)
March Screening (Hybrid):
• March 3rd (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
FOUNDER DEADLINES
April Screening Application:
• March 10th
*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.
