Happy New Year from Band of Angels

2020 Band of Angels Investments

2020 was a challenging year for everyone. We are so pleased that through it all the Band has remained a source of constancy and comfort. We continued to meet weekly in our SiGs and monthly at our dinners, invested in many new startups, supported our existing portfolio companies, and collaborated convivially with one another. 

We start the year celebrating our 15th Band IPO. Airbnb went public on December 10th at $68/share and closed the day at $144. As of press time, it is trading at $170 and a market cap in excess of $100B. We got Airbnb shares by investing in Localmind, a location-based Q&A platform, in 2011. The company was acquired by Airbnb in 2012.

During 2020 we made 17 investments: 14 initial investments from the Band Deal Dinner and 3 follow-ons from the Second Look portfolio update. The Software category leads in the number of deals funded with seven (41%), followed by Life Sciences/MedTech with five (29%), HardTech with two (12%), Other with two (12%), and AgFoodHealthspan with one (6%). New funded deals include: RoboTire and Xpan Medical (January 2020 Dinner), Perceive (February 2020 Dinner), EternaTear (April 2020 Dinner), Butlr (May 2020 Dinner), Inhalon Bio and MilkRun (June 2020 Dinner), Journey (July 2020 Dinner), C. Light Technologies and Virtanza (August 2020 Dinner), CapConnect+, Champions Round, and Lingrove (September 2020 Dinner), and OpsCruise (October 2020 Dinner). Second Look portfolio follow-on investments were: Strategikon Pharma (January 2020 Second Look), VisgenX (June 2020 Second Look), and IrriGreen (September 2020 Second Look).

2020 set a low bar to exceed but we hope that 2021 is the best year yet for all of us. Happy new year!

New Digital Media & Entertainment SiG

Band members Dan Schwartz and Daniel Gould are starting a Digital Media & Entertainment Special Interest Group (SiG) to fund the next generation of digital media/entertainment deals. Dan founded the world’s first digital media delivery platform for print publications, Qiosk.com, which ignited the first generation of digital print delivery. Daniel has twenty years experience in digital media and entertainment. He is an active angel and residential real estate investor. The inaugural meeting will be on January 28th, 2021. If you’d like to participate in the SiG, please contact BandHQ@bandangels.com.

Welcome to the Portfolio: QuSecure - Quantum Cyber Security for the Enterprise

QuSecure (https://www.qusecure.com) developed advanced quantum resilient technology that will secure your enterprise from cyber attacks. The network of the future will require Quantum technology to protect your enterprise from quantum computing attacks. QuSecure’s quantum security management suite (QSMS) plugs right into your existing network infrastructure...protecting your investment and your data against both Quantum and Classical threats.

December Band Holiday Dinner

This year, Covid protocols prevent us from meeting in person to celebrate the season with each other. But we can, as we have all year, adapt and make something beautiful that meets this moment. Please put on your best holiday attire, or ugliest holiday sweater, pour yourself some egg-nog, and sign into the first (and hopefully only!) Band December Zoom Dinner meeting at 6:15 PM on Wednesday, December 16th. We will do small group chat and mingle in breakout rooms for a half hour to 45 minutes and then re-assemble to hear several unusual presentations.

In the past we’ve pushed back on requests to have charities or non-profits pitch the Band. Band members are generous and give to charities outside the Band. As with all organizations, we have to have focus; and our focus is to help startups. But, Covid has been an uneven taker. Some have lost their lives, others their livelihoods. In the spirit of this national crisis, and of the season, it seems apropos of this extraordinary moment to make an exception to our previous practice and have a session devoted to presentations from four local charities that serve those particularly impacted by Covid.

MISSION ASSET FUND is empowering small business innovation in the age of COVID; SAMARITAN HOUSE is leading the fight against poverty in San Mateo County to keep everyone in our community fed, clothed, healthy, and housed; MEALS ON WHEELS SAN FRANCISCO provides network of services to address senior hunger and isolation; and THE BURWEN EDUCATION FOUNDATION is providing fully funded 4-year college scholarships to economically disadvantaged students graduating from Mountain View High School.

Update from the Band of Angels AgFood Tech vertical

The Band of Angels AgFood Tech vertical was inaugurated as a Special Interest Group (SiG) in 2016. The goal was to invest in new markets created by digitalization of farming and food systems including consumption and delivery. In the past few years, we have witnessed amazing innovations and creation of new markets that is nothing short of transformative. As she outlines in this presentation (https://bit.ly/AFHvertical), Chair Jaleh Daie is broadening the group's mission and investment theme to go beyond food and agriculture to include wellness and healthspan and changing the name of this SiG to AgFoodHealthspan (AFH). She is also innovating by adding a formal way for non-members to participate; her Advisory Council (https://bit.ly/AFHadvisors) will expand the number of people with deep domain expertise (eg. real life farmers/growers, journalists, other early investors) participating in the group. Check out the “rules” for participating and consider people you might nominate to join. The AFH vertical will host a Luminary Talk with Gabrielle "Ellie" Rubenstein, Co-founder and CEO of the private equity firm Manna Tree, on November 17th from 1 PM to 2 PM on the topic “Improving Human Health - One Investment at a Time”.