Gopher Angels is Minnesota’s largest and most active angel investor network, providing elevated access to Midwest deal flow and a facilitated investment process. The company supports high-potential startups through funding, mentorship, and expertise, aiming to foster innovation and growth within the Minnesota startup ecosystem.

Gopher Angels

We are a large, growing and collaborative group of accredited angel investors in the Twin Cities. Since our founding in 2012, we've invested over $24M in 75 companies across Minnesota and the Midwest.

RoverMed BioSciences

StemoniX

CoreBiome

Today Gopher Angels members dove deep into trends in SAFE and convertible note terms - especially useful in the changing funding environment. At the earliest (and riskiest) stages of a company, setting terms that align the founders and it's investors is critical. When there is a win-win effort, everyone has a better shot at a long-term positive outcome.

Thanks so much to Gopher Angels sponsor Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. and Dominick Grande for sharing his in-depth knowledge here. You've made us smarter today! 

#angelinvesting #startups Sara Russick David Russick #startuplawyer

Congratulation to the Creatively Focused and to our Gopher Angels investors. It was a pleasure collaborating with our investment partners.

Attn med-tech startups...check out this program for first-time med-tech CEOs. At Gopher Angels we fund and support US-based med-tech startups, and this sounds like a great resource. Thanks to Morgan Evans, Prem Padhye and team for launching it!
#mnmedtech #startups

Congrats to CEO Elizabeth Hickey Orme and the Creatively Focused team on closing their $3M round! Creatively Focused is a MN tech company building solutions to reshape special education and support educators nationwide. Gopher Angels is proud to participate with an initial investment of $365K from our members. The round was led by York IE, with participation from our MN-based syndication partners Mairs & Power Venture Capital and Groove Capital.

"Gopher Angels are especially impressed with Elizabeth's leadership qualities. Like so many Midwest founders, she's rushing toward her big vision with persistence and pragmatism. What you see are solid, compounding results," says Gopher Angels internal deal lead Sara Russick.  

A special thanks to Gopher Angels member Kristin Taylor for helping the company quickly navigate the MN Angel Tax Credit program, and to Marshall Everson of York IE and John Bergstrom and Austin Uline of Mairs & Powers for their great work on getting this deal together.

David Russick
#edtech #education #funding David Russick #innovation #angelinvesting #mnstartups

Shout to John Stavig, who has been instrumental to the success of Gopher Angels. He was a founding advisory board member and continues to add value and support to our network of angel investors and entrepreneurs. Thanks for all you do! 
Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship, David Russick

Thanks Angel Capital Association for another great summit. Gopher Angels has been a member since day one, so we can always current on angel investing best practices, syndication opportunities, public policy, market trends, and education.  Over the years, we've developed relationships with so many amazing investors and groups from around the country -- it was great to see these friends and colleagues, and I especially enjoyed meeting new angel groups to expand our syndication potential. 

I'll be sharing key take-aways, trends and data at our upcoming Gopher Angels member meetings. In the meantime, here are some fun facts I accumulated from the keynote speakers and ACA members throughout the summit. Whether you agree or not, the facts are all there! Hope these get the conversation going at your next angel coffee or happy hour discussions:

-"2022 was a correction not a collapse."
-"Burn the 2021 playbook for valuations and returns."
-"In 2022, the health of angel investing is less volatile and more resilient than VC."
-"2/3 of 2022's $1B+ IPOs are trading <80% below IPO price."
-"On average, holding a company for 5 years returned 1X. Holding a company for 15 years returned 600X."
-"The sweet spot for going out of business is 3-5 years. The sweet spot for exits is 5-8 years."
-"Only 30% of unicorns were first movers."
-"The average age of founders is 32."
-"80% of unicorns are founded outside the Bay Area; 60% are outside NYC & Bay Area." 

Remember, as a Gopher Angels member, you receive access to ACA member benefits like education materials, podcasts, etc. 

Thoughts? More to come!

Deadline is tonight to apply for BETA Backers! 
See links below for startups and investors.
BETA, #startups

Congratulations Joy Lindsay for this well-earned recognition. You've had an incredible impact on Minnesota's startup ecosystem, and have been especially pivotal to so many women entrepreneurs and investors.  
A special thanks for contributing to the launch and success of Gopher Angels in 2012. It has been a gift to know you and work with you. Thanks for all you do! 
#startups #womeninvestors

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