Author: Paul Damato

BY Tom Henderson

Early stage entrepreneurs in western Michigan have more equity capital to tap into to fund their companies.
The Grand Angels of Grand Rapids have finished raising their third fund of $11.8 million. Their previous funds were
$2 million and $6.8 million. Members of the Grand Angels can also invest in deals individually alongside the fund.
Members of the Michigan Capital Network, which includes the Woodward Angels in Detroit, the Flint Angels and the
Ka-Zoo Angels in Kalamazoo, can also co-invest in deals with the fund.
The Grand Angels provides back-office and due-diligence support to members of the other angel groups in the
network.

Read the full article on Crain’s website.

BY Mark Sanchez

GRAND RAPIDS — After completing fundraising at the end of 2019, Grand Angels has a couple of new deals in the
works for its latest venture capital fund.
The Grand Rapids-based investment firm closed Dec. 31 on $11.7 million raised from nearly 100 investors for Grand
Angels Venture Fund III LLC. Since launching in August 2018, the fund has co-invested in five deals, four of which
were with companies based in Michigan, plus one in Chicago.
Managing Director Paul D’Amato expects two more deals to close in the coming weeks.
“We’re plugging away,” D’Amato told MiBiz.
Grand Angels consists of a West Michigan angel investing network and three affiliated groups in Kalamazoo, Detroit
and Flint, plus three venture capital funds. The two prior Grand Angels venture capital funds combined invested in 33
companies through initial and follow-on rounds made with other funds.
In Fund III, Grand Angels initially targeted raising $15 million. The amount netted still represented “a substantial
increase over our last fund,” D’Amato said.

Read the full article on MiBiz’s website.

BY Mark Sanchez

GRAND RAPIDS — The $1.4 million investment in Portage-based Micro Laser Assisted Machining Technologies
LLC represents the largest single investment ever for Grand Angels and its affiliated angel groups and venture
capital fund.
As well, the deal demonstrates the benefit of building a broader statewide investment network that can participate in
larger capital rounds for growing portfolio companies. “We’re building the scale now with our network that we can
write larger checks so we can really be involved with these companies and make a big difference,” said Tim Parker,
the president of Grand Angels, a Grand Rapids-based angel investment fund that, along with affiliates in Kalamazoo
and Detroit, led the most recent capital round in Micro-LAM.

Read the full article on MiBiz’s website.

BY Mark Sanchez

GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Angels launched a new affiliate in Flint, further expanding its presence across Michigan.
Flint Angels became the third affiliate for the Grand Rapids-based Grand Angels formed under the Michigan Capital
Network umbrella. The organization previously formed Ka-Zoo Angels in Kalamazoo and Woodward Angels in
Detroit. The new Flint Angels began with 10 members in the Flint area and continues to recruit more, said Grand
Angels President Tim Parker. He hopes to enlist up to another 10 investors to join Flint Angels by the end of the year.
Formation of Flint Angels is somewhat personal for Parker. He grew up in the Flint area and “always had a desire to
help my home community, knowing that it’s since been through the wringer with the automotive industry and other
things.”

Read the full article on MiBiz’s website.

BY Grace Turner

Grand Angels, a Grand Rapids-based investor group, has joined with a consortium of metro Detroit investors to form
Woodward Angels to identify and deploy early-stage capital to tech and digitally scaling businesses in Detroit.
Woodward Angels, a Detroit angel investment group, has launched. Paul D’Amato, managing director of Grand
Angels and the Michigan Capital Network, addresses attendees at the inaugural meeting. // Photo courtesy of
Woodward Angels
Grand Angels, a Grand Rapids-based investor group, has joined with a consortium of metro Detroit investors to form
Woodward Angels to identify and deploy early-stage capital to tech and digitally scaling businesses in Detroit.
“We realized that early-stage investment was one of the largest obstacles facing companies looking to scale and
succeed in Detroit,” says Lauren Hoffman, director of Woodward Angels.

Read the full article on the DBusiness website.

BY Tom Henderson

Tim Parker of the Grand Angels is taking aim at bringing the same concept applied to the Grand Rapids-based angel
investor network to Detroit.
A new angel-investor group in Southeastern Michigan, the Woodward Angels, has been quietly planning a launch and
will convene its first meeting this week at the Shinola Hotel in Detroit.
The group will be a legal affiliate of Grand Angels Holding Co. LLC, the holding company for the Grand Rapids-based
Grand Angels, considered the most active angel investor group in Michigan and one of the most active in the
Midwest.
Tim Parker, the president of the Grand Angels, said he expects about 100 high-net-worth individuals at the inaugural
informational meeting, which is closed to the public and aimed at getting attendees to join the new group.
The creation of the new group would help fill a gap in the angel-investing community since the Great Lakes Angels,
another group, stopped holding monthly pitch meetings early last year.
He said the Woodward Angels is part of an ongoing effort to roll out affiliated investor groups around the state. In
August 2017, the Grand Angels helped launch the Ka-Zoo Angels as a legal affiliate. “That was our prototype to see
how it worked, and it’s worked out well,” he said.

Read the full article on Crain’s website.

BY Shandra Martinez

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Last year was a big year for Grand Angels, one of the state’s top angel investment groups
The Grand Rapids-based fund invested a record $3.5 million in a dozen deals in 2015, marking a 20 percent increase
over 2014. Grand Angels expects to soon hit a major milestone of $20 million total investment since its founding in
2004 by former Grand Bank CEO Charles C. Stoddard and entrepreneur, Craig T. Hall.
The investments are in early stage companies in the life sciences, advanced manufacturing, advanced agriculture
and B2B technology fields.

Read the full article on MLive’s website.