Monday, February 14, 2011
TCA Gets First Close On Angel Fund
The Tech Coast Angels announced this morning that it has had a first close on its Angel Capital Entrepreneurial (ACE) Fund 1, the firm's new early-stage investment fund. The fund--which has been in the works since last year--is aimed at making it easier for the TCA to move quickly to invest in companies. The Tech Coast Angels did not say how much funding it had in the first close, however, Dave Berkus, an angel investor managing the fund, has previously said the target is $5-6M for the fund. The angel group said that the first investment from the fund was in Vokle, an online event broadcasting service. Details on that funding were not announced. A regulatory filing by the firm in January indicated a $542,000 investment in Vokle as part of an ongoing $1.0M fundraising.
Berkus, in a release announcing the fund, said that the first investment took the fund seven days, due to the move to a five member deal committee and efficient decision structure for deals. The TCA has gotten some complaints in the past from entrepreneurs for the difficulty of managing multiple angel investors for investment rounds. Companies gaining investment from angels and angel groups typically have to deal with handling decisions and paperwork for the many angels involved, versus less structure and complexity with larger investors.