State of Colorado Backs Rockies Venture Club Expansion of Angel Groups with Industry Focus

DENVER, September 05, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) has announced grantees for their 2019 Collaborative Infrastructure Grants. A total of $1.12M was approved by the grant commission and awarded to companies with industry-wide impact across one or more of Colorado OEDIT's seven designated Advanced Industries. Rockies Venture Club (RVC) was awarded $470,000 in total grant funding to create new angel investing communities throughout the state, using well-established principles and practices of angel group formation and management to educate and mobilize new angel investors.

RVC, a 501(c)6 non-profit organization, is the longest-running and one of the most active angel investment groups in the U.S., operating actively since 1985. With over 215 investor members, RVC is a leading syndicate, investing in 20-25 companies annually. RVC has a history of successful execution by combining education for entrepreneurs and new investors with start-up community events and investor gatherings that ultimately lead to investment. RVC hosts over 140 events per year, many of which are in collaboration with other community organizations. such as the Colorado OEDIT, Colorado BioScience Association (CBSA), Colorado Smart Cities Alliance, and others.

The concept behind the grant is that mobilizing capital is a community effort. RVC will be focusing on vertically-oriented communities to help them fulfill their own mission by mobilizing local investors to invest in local companies within their communities of interest whether urban or rural. These investment verticals range from health and life science to natural food and beverage.

RVC's educational platform includes the recent, Colorado OEDIT sponsored RVC Impact HyperAccelerator program. Eight for-profit social or environmental impact companies received intensive training on many subjects within entrepreneurship and investing, helping to prepare them for Angel investment. Through events like these, RVC has built a long-standing relationship with OEDIT which has been mutually beneficial and RVC hopes will continue to grow for years to come.

"We are fortunate to have an investment partner like RVC to help coordinate and support our AI grants," said Katie Woslager, senior manager – Advanced Industries. "Colorado is a nexus of talent in AI verticals and we are proud to invest in and support this key industry."

RVC's first area of expansion in Colorado will be in Clean Technology. RVC is partnering with the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association (CCIA) and the Traxion Venture Network to launch a Cleantech Angel group in October 2019. CCIA Executive Director, Shelly Curtiss shared, "The challenge of raising early stage capital is a constant frustration for many of our member companies. By working with Traxion and RVC, we will increase the number of cleantech companies in the Angel investor's pitch pipeline, while bringing new investors to the table interested in clean technology investment opportunities. Cleantech Angels represents a new opportunity to fund, grow and retain Colorado's incredible cleantech talent and we're excited to be involved."

RVC, CCIA, and Traxion Venture Network will hold the first meeting of the Cleantech Angels powered by RVC on Thursday, October 17th from 5:30 to 8:00pm at the Colorado School of Mines. Details on the meeting can be found at http://www.rockiesventureclub.org/calendar. RVC plans to also expand angel communities with focuses on Life Sciences, Aerospace, and other industries in 2020.

In Colorado alone, there are close to 68,000 potential accredited investors, many of whom don't realize their potential to invest and the significant impact they can have. Fewer than 1,000 of them engage in angel investments. Rockies Venture Club aims to change this and the OEDIT project is one large step in the direction the club intends to go. RVC's Executive Director, Peter Adams added, "This is an exciting opportunity for the State of Colorado to mobilize some of the passive capital that we have here in our community into great Colorado startups that create jobs and foster economic development throughout the state. People send their money to Wall Street through their financial advisors, but there are better investment opportunities here in our own community."

RVC continuously has shown success in mobilizing accredited investors to invest in both socially and environmentally conscious start-ups. This grant will be largely impactful in fulfilling the RVC mission of connecting, educating, and exposing entrepreneurs and investors to mobilize capital and facilitate economic development. The plan consists of active recruitment, education, retention, and formation of new angel groups aligned with the OEDIT's advanced industries, as well as more investment deals with new companies, and more job creation and impact through these investments.

About the Rockies Venture Club: Rockies Venture Club is the oldest and one of the largest Angel Groups in the U.S.A., founded in 1985, whose mission is to advance economic development by actively connecting the most promising entrepreneurial companies with Angel investors, venture capitalists, and other community members. Every year Rockies Venture Club offers over 140 educational programs, mastermind groups, Angel forums, and two major  conferences for both investors and entrepreneurs. https://www.rockiesventureclub.org

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SOURCE Rockies Venture Club