Band of Angels Los Angeles Special Interest Group (LA SiG)

Announcing the Launch of the Band of Angels LA SiG

Two of our recent investments, Mechanodontics and U-Nest, both sponsored by Band member Garrett Gilbertson, are based in Los Angeles; as are several other of our deals and members. To facilitate deal flow and engagement from there to here, Garrett is starting a Los Angeles Special Interest Group (LA SiG) with first meeting on Friday, September 6th from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM at ProColo (8611 Washington Blvd, Culver City). You can register for the first LA SiG meeting here.

Portfolio News: Car IQ Secures $5 Million in Series A Funding to Accelerate Growth of Autonomous Payment Gateway for Vehicles

Car IQ, a leader in vehicle payment technology, announced it has closed Series A funding of $5 million led by Quest Venture Partners with participation from new investors Avanta Ventures, Citi Ventures, Alpana Ventures, Plug and Play, and AVG’s Spike Ventures.

Read full press release here

Portfolio News: Kango Announces $3.6 Million Series A Funding Led by National Express LLC.

Kango is an award-winning app-based rideshare and childcare service for busy families, providing trusted rides to get kids wherever they need to go. (Photo: Business Wire)

Kango, the award-winning app-based rideshare and childcare service for busy families, today announced a $3.6 million dollar Series A funding round. The round was led by a strategic investment from National Express, the premier transportation firm which operates a fleet of more than 25,000 vehicles, that includes serving 600 school districts in 30 states, and transporting 1.2 million students on a daily basis. As part of the funding agreement, David A. Duke from National Express is joining Kango’s board.

Read full press release here

Band of Angels members visit Italy to meet with leading startups

Band of Angels members Jaleh Daie (Chair, AgFood Tech Group) and Ron Weissman (Chair, Software Group) received diplomas from Gelato University, for completing a course in gelato science, from Carpigiani, the world’s leader in the sale of gelato machines. They toured the plant as part of a week-long visit to the Emilia-Romagna region by 10 Silicon Valley investors to understand their tech sector and meet with leading startups.

Welcome to the portfolio - IrriGreen

We are pleased to welcome IrriGreen to the Band of Angels portfolio of funded companies. IrriGreen designs and manufactures the Genius lawn irrigation system.

Lawn irrigation is the biggest use of household water in the U.S. That's nine billion gallons every day. Half of this water is wasted by inefficient irrigation systems that overlap and spray on sidewalks and streets. IrriGreen conserves that water. The IrriGreen system uses as much as 50% less water, because their Genius sprinkler heads spray in the exact shape of any lawn, eliminating wasteful overlap and overspray. This means a 10,000 sq ft lawn will save up to 950,000 gallons in ten years, compared to a conventional system.