Rockies Venture Club (RVC), in partnership with the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association (CCIA), and Traxion Accelerator, with help from National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL), Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and others, have formed an Angel Investing Group to invest specifically in Cleantech Startups.
DENVER (PRWEB) OCTOBER 11, 2019
Cleantech companies are coming on strong, on the rebound from a somewhat rocky start and Cleantech companies in the rocky mountains now have a new funding advocate in the newly-formed Colorado Cleantech Angels investing group.
Now, rockiesventureclub.org [Rockies Venture Club (RVC) __title__ Rockies Venture Club (RVC)], in partnership with the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association (CCIA), and Traxion Venture Network, with help from National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL), Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), and others, have formed an Angel Investing Group to invest specifically in Cleantech Startups.
While some early Cleantech companies struggled to find a market for their solutions, current Cleantech companies have become very sophisticated and can now present solutions that provide a high return of up to ten times on investment for their clients, having overcome much of the technology risks that early Cleantech companies experienced.
“Cleantech” can mean many things, but generally refers to technologies that improve clean energy use, clean water, advanced materials and recycling, smart grids, solar, wind, transportation, battery systems, biofuels, biomass, air, and more. These technologies have become more active in recent years now that wind and solar, when partnered with municipal level power management and storage systems, can produce energy at a lower cost per kilowatt hour than coal and gas plants.
This partnership solves a huge problem for Cleantech startups that struggle to get early stage funding. Most Cleantech investors wait until late-stage institutional investment opportunities arise, leaving startups stranded. RVC specializes in leading early stage deals, conducting due diligence, negotiating deals, and building investment syndicates big enough to launch early stage companies.
Recently the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) awarded a grant to RVC to help mobilize capital within the state of Colorado. The grant, called the Colorado Capital Mobilization Grant, supports the formation of new angel groups and venture capital funds that are focused on specific vertical markets such as cleantech. As a result of the grant funding, RVC was able to hire Paul Foley, an entrepreneur turned investor who will be spearheading the development of new angel groups that support Colorado’s Advanced Industries. This partnership is unique and could set a model for economic development relationships with angel groups nation-wide.
Peter Adams, Executive Director at RVC, says of this partnership, “the establishment of a Cleantech angel group is a game-changer for the state of Colorado, for Cleantech startups and for our environment world-wide.”
The partnership between OEDIT, the CCIA, Traxion, and RVC is a perfect match. It furthers the mission of the CCIA by funding new Cleantech startups, the mission of OEDIT by creating jobs, and the mission of RVC by effectively matching investors and entrepreneurs to create economic development throughout the region.
The first meeting of the Cleantech Angels will be in Golden, CO on October 17th. Accredited Investors (individuals with a net worth of $1 million or more excluding their primary residence), are welcome to attend by registering at https://rockiesventureclub.wildapricot.org/event-3499866
The Colorado Cleantech Angels group is supported by RVC’s state-wide infrastructure. It also supports the new Rockies Impact Fund (RIF), which is now open to investors who want to support social and environmental companies who are focused on producing market-rate returns with tax-advantaged deal structures. For more information about RIF, contact [email protected].
RVC is a non-profit organization and is the oldest continuously operating angel group in the U.S. with over two hundred active angel investors. RVC makes about twenty-five investments per year and runs educational programming such as week-long accelerators for startups as well as accelerators for investors to help bring them up to speed on complex venture capital skills such as pre-revenue valuations for companies, negotiating the legalities of term sheets, exit strategies, syndication, portfolio strategies and more.
For more information contact [email protected]
Clean Energy Venture Capital – Top 10 States by Total Investment
Peter Adams, Executive Director at RVC, says of this partnership, “the establishment of a Cleantech angel group is a game-changer for the state of Colorado, for Cleantech startups and for our environment world-wide.”
