Yesterday, I attended the Iowa Angel Summit 2024 which was organized by Tej Dhawan, Managing Director of Plains Angels.
Angel Investment 101- Developing a Portfolio Strategy
- To kick things off, Tej presented an example of an angel portfolio model. Looking around the room, I could tell that many of the newer angel investors were taking a lot of notes
- Tej shared his thoughts on how much of someone’s personal investible capital they might invest into angel investments, how many total portfolio companies to make to diversify risk and how to plan for follow on reserves.
Agtech and Fintech Reign Supreme
- Iowa has a rich history in agriculture, and it is reflected in the many agricultural focused startups in the State.
- Perhaps lesser known is the strength of the financial service industry in Iowa.
- This was on display at the Summit…
- Franklin Codel who is a member of Plains Angels, previously was EVP at Wells Fargo ((44) Franklin Codel | LinkedIn).
- Wells Fargo focused their large Des Moines office on consumer lending, areas such as credit cards as mortgages.
- Franklin shared his perspective about tracking the value of angel portfolios (“mark to market”) and the difficulty he found he receiving regular updates from portfolio companies he invested in as he started making angel investments.
- Nicole Gunderson who is Principal at ManchesterStory, a fintech focused venture capital fund, shared some of her perspective as an early stage investor.
- Nicole had previously grown in the ranks at payments startup Dwolla to then led the Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA) before joining ManchesterStory. (Worth noting, our portfolio company Micruity was a past participant in GIA).
- Franklin Codel who is a member of Plains Angels, previously was EVP at Wells Fargo ((44) Franklin Codel | LinkedIn).
- This was on display at the Summit…
Close Collaboration Between Midwest States
- Josh Bartels from Nebraska Angels highlighted how their group shares angel deal flow with Plains Angels. A recent example was Elevator Co-Warehousing + Community, which could be described as co-working but for the warehouse space.
- Cathy Connett of Minnesota-based Sophia Fund has been investing in early stage companies since the mid-‘90s.
- She shared several highlights on the market conditions for early stage investor and how they are evolving
- My biggest takeaway was a chart Cathy shared which highlighted the rapid rise in venture capital funding over the past 10 years which has dramatically outpaced the more modest growth of angel investment.
- Jeffrey Maters, Managing Director of Network Ventures, relocated to Des Moines after spending over 6 years at Pritzker in Chicago brings deep Chicago area connections. We share a common portfolio company in WithMe (WithMe: A Startup Growth Story Fueled by Profits – Great North Ventures).
- Gopher Angels, of which I am a member, often shares angel investment opportunities with Plains Angels too.
Where are the Software and AI Focused Startups?
- In speaking with several attendees, I didn’t get a sense that the quantity of software or AI startups was very high in Iowa.
- With that said, the whole room was buzzing when Tej shared the news that local AI startup RoboFlow just announced their $40M Series B led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Craft Ventures.
- Quality over quantity all day long!
Closing Thoughts
Although we don’t have a geographical mandate for Great North Ventures, we are actively looking for deals across the Upper Midwest, especially in areas of real estate and financial service tech. Iowa is certainly very strong in these two industries, and look forward to identifying promising startups to invest in over the years to come.
Pictures from the Event:
Nicole Gunderson and Tej Dhawan
Franklin Codel speaking on developing an investor strategy
Cathy Connett sharing market highlights
