Seattle Angels are Flying High

Keywords for this post:
Business plans for angel investors

The Alliance of Angels, a network of venture capitalists and high-net-worth individuals, has pumped $7 million into 20 Washington state companies so far this year, doubling what it invested last year. It's also an all-time high for the 8-year-old investment group, surpassing the dollars and number of deals at the height of the dot.com boom in 1999.

Frazier Technology Ventures general partner Dan Rosen, who serves as chairman of the Alliance of Angels, said the new-found enthusiasm is being driven by experienced entrepreneurs who now see opportunities to take advantage of changes in the technology landscape. Angel investors, Rosen said, are tapping into those new entrepreneurial projects.

We are getting a confluence of the angels, plus the exciting new technologies and businesses coming together, said Rosen.

In the grand scheme of things, $7 million is not a lot of money. After all, some Seattle companies raise that much in one venture capital round.

But Rosen said angel investments, which typically are smaller and involve early-stage companies, serve as an important feeder system to the venture capitalists. And the fact that 20 companies raised money through the Alliance of Angels speaks to the optimism now surging through the Seattle start-up community.

As we have said a number of times, the angel investments are, we believe, a leading indicator of what is going to happen in the venture market, said Rosen.

There's even more evidence that angel investing is making a comeback. Two new angel groups -- The Keiretsu Forum and Zino Society -- recently formed in the Seattle area.

Here are a few of the companies that received funding through the organization this year:

-Pacific Biosciences: David Giuliani, who previously co-founded electric toothbrush maker Optiva Corp., is looking for an encore with a new skin-care brush called the Clarisonic.

-ScaleOut Software: Created by serial entrepreneur and former Microsoftie William Bain, the companyÂ’s software helps corporations manage data centers and server farms.

-iClick: A supplier of digital cameras, MP3 players and other electronics, iClick founder Lon McGowan was the syear longf a yearlong series in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

-Amnis: Once venture-backed, the Seattle company's ImageStream Cell Analysis System is used by research organizations in drug discovery.

It's not quite "Seattle leads the nation," but the strength of the Seattle market cannot be questioned, and could well be the harbinger of good tidings.