New Angels Go For Big Deal
The newest DC-area angel club announced its first group investment today: $240k will go to Dashboard.io, a new software firm being spun out of 500 Startups.
NextGen Angels--founded by CIT investment director Dan Mindus last fall for investors under age 40--had at least 13 of its members make the investment, and the other 60 will open their networks to the new startup. The software, developed by 500 Startups partner Paul Singh when he was co-running the Silicon Valley-based fund andaccelerator program, allows companies within a VC's portfolio to communicate with and get help from their peers. It also allows those businesses to get info on how they're performing compared to others at their same level. Customers would be VCs, super angels, and their LPs. (Yes, a VC invested in a company that helps VCs. Have we finally found something that's too meta?)
Paul, a DC native and GMU alum,is launching the company in Mountain View but could possibly relocate it to Ashburn, Va., where he has roots. Right now, he has two other engineers working with him, including Fred Oliveira, who built CrunchBase, a database of tech companies and investors. Two more engineers are on the way, and Paul says more talent will be hired with some of the angel funding raised. He envisionsDashboard.io becoming the Bloomberg of the private market. He plans to remain an advisor to 500 Startups.
