New York Angels Facilitates Nationwide Angel Collaboration
Plug and Play Angel Preview Day: June 2025
New York Angels is actively seeking collaboration with other angel groups to enhance and diversify deal flow opportunities. Last Fall, New York Angels organized a new approach to deal flow, uniting ten angel groups across the country. The Plug and Play Preview Day helped uncover deal flow that might otherwise bypass the angel stage and move right to venture capital. As angels, we need to identify (and fund!) these types of deals because they are often great long-term plays. The early-stage companies also benefit because angels are uniquely positioned to help founders with mentoring and offer more founder-friendly terms.
Plug and Play, one of the largest accelerator programs, is best known for hosting semi-annual summits in their Sunnyvale, CA headquarters to showcase their Fall and Spring cohorts. These multi-day events feature companies ranging from the idea stage through Series C and D funding. Attendance has traditionally been VCs, PE firms and corporates looking for investments and leading-edge technologies. While angel-sized deals exist, they are rare amidst the 200+ cohort companies. Founders naturally hope for VC interest, and often they find it there without much competition from angel groups.
In November 2024, New York Angels worked with Plug and Play to hand-pick ten startups with clear product and business plan direction and a willingness to raise on angel-friendly terms in the near term. We recruited nine other leading angel groups* with a common desire to meet and rapidly bring the best companies into their deal intake process.
The (virtual) fast-pitch event secured over 160 registrants from across the U.S. Of the ten showcased companies, six moved forward with an average of 4.6 groups fast-tracking each one into their pitch meeting pipeline. While it's still too early to see which will receive funding, as evidence that we (as angels) are competing with VCs, one of the six companies closed their funding round before the end of December (before any angel follow-on investment).
Participants (the ten angel groups, the founders, and Plug and Play) all deemed it a success. New York Angels is currently planning to repeat the virtual Preview Day with Plug and Play's June 2025 cohort. The technical platform has been proven, and New York Angels' goal is to add more U.S. angel groups to the mix.
The live pitch event was an invaluable experience, and we were fortunate to participate alongside such a distinguished group of angel investing syndicates. It introduced NWA to a diverse range of high quality, innovative companies across various sectors, enriching our deal flow with promising opportunities. A few of the companies we engaged with are now under consideration for investment by our group, highlighting the event's impact on identifying strong prospects. The event also fostered meaningful collaboration, providing a platform for valuable conversations and connections that strengthen the broader investment community. We are looking forward to the next event!
- Jessica Miley, New World Angels
While the Plug and Play Angel Preview Day is a different form of syndication than traditional "top-off the funding round" efforts, those still have an important role. This event's objective is to bring deals in earlier, before a term sheet is final, and to harness the power of large angel groups working together to attract more and better startups into the deal pipeline.
If you are a member of an angel group and are interested in participating, please contact Jon Zaikowski (jon@newyorkangels.com) for more information.
The Band of Angels members were delighted to participate in the Angel Investors x Plug and Play Preview Day. The result was a set of well-curated ventures, and we had follow-on Band meetings with several companies. Big thanks to New York Angels for coordinating the great angel groups around the nation with a special shout-out to colleagues Alyssa Tam, Doug Pearson, and Yuri Lee. Looking forward to the next event!
- Ron Burns, Band of Angels
*Participating angel groups: New York Angels, Band of Angels, New World Angels, NuFund Venture Group, TCA Venture Group, Golden Seeds (Silicon Valley Chapter), Park City Angels, Miami Angels, Bridge Angel Investors, Robin Hood Ventures
