Press Release:
Asheville, NC (May 18, 2015) – Asheville Angels, a group of angel investors formed in 2014 to invest in startups and high-growth companies in Asheville and across the Southeast, today announces its two latest investments, in ActivEd Inc and Baebies Inc. Following on the heels of the group’s January investment in Asheville-based Plum Print, Asheville Angels has now collectively invested over $200,000 into three startups in just its first 8 months of operation.
Asheville Angels is comprised of over 40 members who meet monthly to evaluate, invest in and support early stage companies. “We have been thrilled by Asheville’s enthusiasm for the group,” said Josh Dorfman, Managing Director of Asheville Angels. “Individual investors across our community continue to join and are already seeing, and investing in, compelling investment opportunities – both from Asheville and from across the southeast.”
These investments were collaborations with partners across the southeast, primarily the angel groups in the South Carolina Angel Network, with which Venture Asheville launched Asheville Angels last year. “Angel groups usually need to find partners to fully fund an angel round,” added Dorfman. “Our relationship with SCAN, which operates six angel groups in the Carolinas, means we see more varied and more attractive deal flow, can use wider expertise to evaluate and structure investments, and, most importantly, can more fully and efficiently fund early capital rounds. This allows companies to focus on growing their business rather than finding investors, and allows our investors to make attractive returns.”
ActivEd, based in Greenville, has developed a dynamic online tool that helps students better understand required curriculum standards through kinesthetic (movement-based) lessons created on its “Walkabouts” platform. Based on the published research of Furman University Professor Julian Reed, a leading authority on kinesthetic learning, ActivEd is already selling the Walkabouts platform to schools across the US.
Baebies, based in Durham, is using a unique and patented “digital microfluidics” technology that allows liquid to be moved around using digital software rather than hydraulics. It is applying this technology to develop a smarter, more nimble bioassay automation platform. Their mission is to lead the way in advanced newborn screening.
ABOUT ASHEVILLE ANGELS
Asheville Angels is a professionally managed angel investor network that finds and funds innovative startups and high-growth companies in Asheville and across the Southeast. Formed in 2014, members meet monthly to evaluate investment opportunities in promising scalable, high-growth ventures. Membership is open to all investors that satisfy the SEC’s rules on accreditation. Asheville Angels is a partnership between Venture Asheville, the high-growth entrepreneurship initiative of the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, and the South Carolina Angel Network, an operator of angel investor groups and funds across South Carolina and Western North Carolina.
Contact:
Josh Dorfman| Asheville Angels
Josh@ventureasheville.org
828.258.6137
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