IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit

Band member Kurt Petersen, Chair of the Band of Angels Wearables, Consumer & Semiconductor Special Interest Group (WCS SIG), participated in the inaugural IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit (IEEE VIC Summit). The Summit brought leading innovators, visionaries, and disruptors in technology together in San Francisco. The panel session that Kurt participated in, “Entrepreneurship: Innovating and Challenges,” was a big hit with the audience and addressed many stimulating questions.

Image (L-R: Mario Milicevic, Kurt Petersen, Samantha Snabes and Craig Barratt)

PitchForce

Band member Bruce Walicek participated on the August 24th PitchForce panel to offer feedback, mentoring, and guidance to the presenting startups. PitchForce is a monthly fundraising event for startups in software, social, mobile, big data, consumer web, finance/payments, clean tech, biotech or MedTech sectors. 

Portfolio News: NGX Bio Raises $3 Million to Fund Growth of Its DNA Sequencing Marketplace

NGX Bio, Inc., (www.NGXbio.com) the premier marketplace for online DNA sequencing services, announced it has closed a $3 million funding round.  The round was led by 180 Degree Capital Corp. (NASDAQ:TURN) and included Third Kind Venture Capital, Lateral Capital, the Band of Angels and the Berkeley Angel Network, as well as other investors.

NGX Bio was founded in 2014 to provide streamlined, on-line access to next-generation sequencing services for clients seeking high quality, rapid and cost-effective sequencing of both human and non-human samples globally.

Read the full press release here

Portfolio News: ShotSpotter Goes Public

We have had our 11th Band of Angels portfolio company IPO! ShotSpotter, Inc. (January 2006 Dinner) went public on the NASDAQ on June 7th, 2017 under symbol “SSTI”. SSTI is a gunfire detection and solutions company that triangulates gun fire to within feet of the source, in less than 45 seconds of the trigger being pulled. Where it has been deployed, it has caught criminals, exonerated police in disputed shootings, brought emergency assistance to victims in time to save their lives, and generally reduced gun violence. So in addition to making investors a profit, this company epitomizes the notion of doing well by doing good. Congratulations to Band member Gary Lauder who sponsored the company at the Band back in 2006, where it raised over $300K.

Portfolio News: Chrysler Brand and Kango Announce First-of-its-kind Family Rideshare Service Partnership

The Chrysler brand and Kango, an app-based, on-demand service providing safe, reliable rides and childcare for kids from preschool to high school, today announced a new partnership that will make available new Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans for use by eligible Kango drivers. In this first-of-a-kind partnership between a family rideshare service and an automaker in the U.S., the Chrysler brand will make a fleet of new Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans available to eligible Kango drivers, for an affordable lease, to promote safety and environmental stewardship and to provide a best-in-class ride.

Read full press release