NEW YORK and KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 7, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Leaders of more than 120 angel groups from the United States and Canada, representing more than 5,000 individual angel investors, will join with early-stage venture capitalists in New York City on April 26-28 for the North American Summit of the Angel Capital Education Foundation (ACEF). The ACEF, www.angelcapitaleducation.org, promotes education and research in the growing field of angel investing.
"This will probably be the largest representation of angel groups ever gathered at one time," said Marianne Hudson, Executive Director of ACEF, and Director of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. "The expected turnout reflects the growing angel organization movement, with angel groups representing every region of the U.S. and Canada, and the increased demand by angel group investors for more educational offerings in order to make better investment decisions into entrepreneurial growth companies."
"Angel investor groups are proving to be excellent partners in filling the significant funding gap that exists for start-up companies," said Carl Schramm, Kauffman Foundation president and CEO. "Helping this important industry segment succeed is critical to entrepreneurs' ability to start and grow companies that create jobs and keep the economy strong."
The ACEF Summit marks a continuing professional evolution of the angel group investor industry. As the venture capital community itself evolved and became more sophisticated, so have angel investor groups. Many of today's angel investors are far more educated about investment in great part thanks to sophisticated angel groups who have shared best practices.
Angels are typically high-net-worth individuals and "cashed out" entrepreneurs who are interested in mentoring other entrepreneurs and are actively engaged with the entrepreneurial ventures they fund. In the past several years, an increasing number of angels have joined together to form angel groups in order to pool resources and investment expertise.
"Organized angel groups are a growth industry in this country and have proven vital to regions which generally host fewer traditional capital sources such as venture capital firms and institutional private equity investors," said David S. Rose, Chairman, New York Angels, a New York City-based angel investor group and host of the ACEF Summit. "New York Angels has seen significant growth since our formation just two years ago. Membership has almost doubled from 34 in 2004 to 63 today, and we have invested over $8.8 million over the past twelve months, versus $3.5 million in our first year. Having the ACEF select New York City for this year's annual meeting is testimony to New York's emergence in this critical capital formation industry."
During the Summit, ACEF will also announce the recipient of the Hans Severiens Award, which recognizes individual accomplishments in the advancement of angel investing. The award is named after Hans Severiens, one of the fathers of angel investment organizations. Dr. Severiens founded Band of Angels in 1994 as one of the first angel investment groups in the United States.
The Angel Capital Education Foundation, a program of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, promotes education and research in the field of angel investing. ACEF holds conferences and meetings for angel group leaders, educational workshops and seminars for individual angel investors, builds data on angel investing, and supports research to advance the field. This work is designed to improve the quality and quantity of early-stage financing available for innovative entrepreneurs. More information is available at www.angelcapitaleducation.org.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City is a private, nonpartisan foundation that works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org