An active February means that investments by New York Angels members in 2024 are off to a fast start. The aggregate investment over the first two months of the year is over six times the figure for 2023, and adds weight to the view that funding for early stage companies is rebounding. With an influx of new members and changes coming to our group, 2024 is shaping up to be a an exciting year, as you can read about in articles highlighting our member engagement. Also in this month's Newsletter, learn about the latest deal that NYA has led, ProSentry, we speak to member Drew Hershkowitz, one of our leading SaaS experts, and life science founder, Larry Tiffany.
2024 INVESTMENTS
In the first two months of the year, NYA Members invested over $3.1m.
FEBRUARY INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS
ProSentry offers an all-in-one building monitoring, insights, and alerts service that uses individual smart sensors to detect small problems in apartment buildings before they become big problems. Demand for the ProSentry monitoring platform is expected to be boosted as a result of building legislation. ProSentry is launching in NYC and Miami with plans for additional cities in the future. This Seed Preferred round is being led by New York Angels, and NYA Member Tom Hirschfeld will join the board. Tom and Michael Costa led the deal for NYA.
FOUNDER SPOTLIGHT
Larry Tiffany is a serial entrepreneur having led Medcura from early prototypes to successful commercialization after founding and selling the neuro-molecular testing company DioGenix. Larry now serves as Executive Chairman of Medcura as the company works towards becoming the next standard of care in surgical bleeding management. Prior to DioGenix, Larry held positions in Sr. Management at Ore Pharmaceuticals (CBO), Gene Logic (SVP & GM, Genomics) and Genetraks (US President).
COMPANY NEWS
FINDMINE
Michelle Bacharach, Co-founder and CEO of FindMine, was featured on RetailTouchpoints to discuss how generative AI will shake up the retail. She discusses how Gen AI can support the creative process, from ideation to execution. Listen to Podcast
COMPANY NEWS
COMMUNITY GAMING
Community Gaming, announced its strategic partnership with Tools for Humanity, a contributor to the Worldcoin project co-founded by Alex Blania and Sam Altman. This collaboration aims to greatly enhance the integrity and security of the hundreds of tournaments facilitated each month on the platform. Read Announcement
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Drew Hershkowitz has been a member of NYA for the last three years while also balancing his role as Chief Information & Technology Officer for Casdin Capital. Drew has been a technology professional in the financial industry for over 25 years, working primarily with hedge funds and investment banks. While leading teams large and small to deliver mission-critical technology platforms, Drew applies a practical and commercial mindset and takes a results-oriented approach.
MEMBER EVENTS STARTUP VALUATIONS
In February the member engagement committee hosted a very successful event on Startup Valuation. This popular session looking at recent trends, different valuation methodologies and how angels can drive better outcomes. The meeting, held in hybrid form, was the latest in a series of meetings aimed at improving the collective knowledge of the group. A short taste of the session can be seen here.
MEMBER EVENTS NYA WOMEN'S TEA ANNUAL EVENT
New York Angels hosted its annual Women’s Tea at the Whitby Hotel on February 15th. Women are an important and growing part of NYA membership. Attendees included members, sponsors and future angels. A tasty, good time was had by all.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
FIRSTX FOUNDER Mary Howard
Mary Howard, Program Manager of the ABCT: Accelerator for Biosciences in Connecticut and FirstXFounder, joined our February Forum. FirstXFounder is a critical part of the local early-stage investing ecosystem. Going forward, NYA and FirstXFounder are aiming to partner more closely in life sciences deals.
BLOOMBERG
ANGEL INVESTORS HOPEFUL UK GOVERNMENT MAY REVERSE SOME NEW RULES
Last year NYA members nearly $500k outside of the USA, including in the UK. Consequently we were interested to see that the British pledge to work with entrepreneurs and investors to ease concerns caused by updates introduced to the UK’s “angel investor” program, which critics say will worsen the investment landscape for women. The government may improve the angel-investor landscape in the coming months to help better support female and underrepresented investors and founders. Female angel investors are more likely to financially support companies set up by women, representing around 25% of their investments compared to 19% among the angel community overall.
Investment Forum (Hybrid):
• March 20th (9:00 AM - 12:30 PM)
April Screening (Hybrid):
• April 1st (9:00 AM - 1:00 PM)
FOUNDER DEADLINES
May Screening Application:
• Due April 8th
*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.
