TiE Boston, a nonprofit organization that fosters entrepreneurship in the New England area, today announced the launch of TiE Angels, an angel investment group comprised of charter members of TiE Boston. TiE Angels' mission is to provide entrepreneurs access to seed capital and ongoing strategic and operational support. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to visit TiE Angels website (www.tieangelsboston.com) to submit their business plans for investment consideration.

According to the latest Money Tree Report, venture capital funding increased by 19 percent in dollars and 12 percent in the number of deals in 2010 over the prior year, the first such annual increase since 2007. However, according to the most recent data released by the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Venture Research, angel investors across the country put much less money into startup deals during the first half of 2010 than they did in 2009 or 2008. The study found that in the first half of 2010, 65 percent of membership in angel groups were “latent” angels, or individuals who have the necessary net worth but have not made an investment — an increase of non-participation from 2009 of 54 percent and 36 percent from 2008.

“Increased VC funding is a good sign for entrepreneurs and the economy, but angel investing still hasn't picked up yet and entrepreneurs are having a difficult time securing funding in the current economy,” said Abhishek Jain, chair of the TiE Angels steering committee. “With TiE Angels our goal is to help promising early stage companies, particularly those in the Northeast, bridge the gap between innovative ideas and successful operational companies. TiE Angels is a natural extension of TiE Boston's primary goal of fostering entrepreneurship. Now, in addition to all of the entrepreneur-related mentoring and events TiE already provides, we are enabling start-ups to launch with initial capital.”

Members of TiE Boston include successful entrepreneurs, top executives of Fortune 500 companies, Venture Capitalists, academicians, analysts and policy makers. TiE Boston charter members have founded or head some of the best known businesses in their respective industries. The 35 founding members of TiE Angels have significant financial and experiential resources to invest in promising new ventures.

“As an investor and an entrepreneur, I’m thrilled to be part of TiE Angels to help finance, advise, and take a bet on other promising entrepreneurs in the area,” said Ramesh Motwane, TiE Angels steering committee member. “Our economy depends on the innovation and fresh ideas that entrepreneurs provide. TiE Angels’ expertise and flexible operating structure will allow us to move quickly to seed fund the next great business ideas.”

TiE Angels plans to invest in a range of early-stage companies, with priority given to those in the following sectors: healthcare, clean-tech, Internet/digital media, mobile, software, financial technology, technology-enabled services, and communications. The group expects a typical angel investment to be approximately $500,000, but they can syndicate up to $2 million.

TiE Angels aims to provide a forum for innovative companies to present their ideas and to attract funding from an accomplished group of individual investors. Entrepreneurs seeking capital may submit their plans to TiE Angels at www.tieangelsboston.com to enter the evaluation process.

For more information, visit the TiE Angels Website at: www.tieangelsboston.com

About TiE Angels

TiE Angels is an angel investment group of TiE Boston. The mission of TiE Boston is to foster entrepreneurship through Networking, Mentoring and Education. TiE plays a critical role in bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, service providers and public organizations to create an eco-system that fosters the genesis of great companies. TiE-Boston launched TiE Angels to provide entrepreneurs and start-ups with much needed seed capital and the support that they need to get to the next level. TiE Angels is governed by a Steering Committee.

TIE ANGELS is not a venture fund, an investment bank, a broker/dealer, investment clearing-house, or an Investment advisor, but rather a forum in which investors may be educated on aspects of investment and business, as well as be introduced to companies for possible investment. TIE ANGELS is not registered with the Securities Exchange Commission or any state securities commission. Each member of TIE ANGELS is responsible for his or her own investment decisions, and TIE ANGELS is not recommending any particular company for investment. Investors must conduct their own due diligence and negotiate the terms of any investment they elect to make.

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