Stateline Angels help local
start-ups soar
Angel investors along
the I-Q Corridor enrich entrepreneurial ventures
By Tarah Haack
MADISON
– Stateline Angels, an angel investing group in Rockford, Ill., has been
assisting start-up companies finance their business endeavors since 2004. Not only do these angels provide start-ups
with funding, but they also provide business advice, mentoring and consulting
to the firms in which they invest.
“Our goal is to apply our
expertise and a portion of our assets to earn above average investment returns
by helping help individuals create and build successful new companies,” said
Stateline Angels President Dale Falconer.
The
Stateline Angels are by no means inexperienced when it comes to offering up the
best in business advice. Criterion for becoming a Stateline Angel include
having built one or more successful companies, having a successful track record
of investing in early-stage companies, and have an individual net worth in
excess of $1 million.
Falconer
said Stateline Angels members include Rockford-area
business executives, attorneys, physicians, and entrepreneurs.
“Our members are accredited
investors who have started and run companies and practices and have significant
operational experience across a variety of businesses and industries,” he said.
The Stateline Angels are
focused on investing capital in their local community. According to Falconer, members
of the group “have a sense of local interest and define our radius as three to
four hours drive.”
Falconer said there is
“plenty of good deal flow in the area,” and that the Stateline Angels “review
at least two deals every month.”
Ventures in which angels
invest tend to be in similar fields where they found entrepreneurial success
themselves. Typical Stateline Angel
investments lie within the fields of manufacturing, information technology,
life sciences, and other technologies.
In a state such as
This is one of the reasons
why Stateline has joined forces with WAN, the Wisconsin Angel Network.
Stateline hopes the
affiliation will increase “access to early-stage companies located in the Northern
Illinois/Southern Wisconsin region that are seeking equity funding,” according
to Falconer.
In addition to linking arms with WAN, the
Stateline Angels have also joined up with Rockford Area Ventures, EIGERlab,
EDGE, and the Illinois Technology Development Alliance. The Stateline Angels are also a member of the
Angel Capital Association.
Through angel associations, team efforts
and converging resources can add extra financial zip to companies attempting to
take off. Not only do partnerships
assist in funding, they spread the word about bright entrepreneurs and help
investors to branch out.
“As a result of the increased exposure,
we have seen a significant increase in the number of deals that we have the
opportunity to review,” said Stateline Angels vice
president DeWayne Fellows.
The Stateline Angels have most recently
invested $450,000 in Atometric, Inc., a manufacturer of micro-machines for
metal milling and cutting. That total is
significantly higher than Stateline’s more standard investment of $100,000 to
$300,000.
Atometric specializes in producing micro-machinery
as small as the head of a pin. Prior to
advancements made by Atometric, miniature machine parts were not durable to the
stresses of factory work, but precise enough for desktop workstations.
“Our members
recognized that Atometric offers a solution that is seriously needed and particularly
unique,” Falconer said.
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