Angel group invests in 35 firms

Recession? Mortgage meltdown? Stock market slump?

None of those factors affected the Keiretsu Forum Northwest, an angel investment group that doubled investment totals last year. The three-year-old group, with 154 members in Seattle, Portland and Boise, invested $17.4 million in 35 companies.

That compares with about $6 million invested in 2006. The Alliance of Angels, a nonprofit investment group supported by the Technology Alliance, also just released 2007 numbers, with Chairman Dan Rosen calling it a "blowout year." The 10-year-old group pumped $3.9 million into 44 companies.

Companies that make the cut at Keiretsu have a very good shot at raising some capital, with members writing checks for 35 of the 49 presenting companies. Of the 35 companies, 23 were in the Puget Sound region.

"We have social aspects of the group, but we are serious investors," said M. Todd Dean, who oversees the Northwest chapter.

Investors pay annual dues of $3,000, while presenting companies fork out $6,000 in order to present business plans at four group meetings.

Keiretsu, which doubled its membership last year, opened a Portland branch last month with 12 members. Dean hopes to have more than 30 on the books in the next couple of months.

And as to the possibility of a recession, Dean doesn't think that will affect angel investing in the short term.

"I have not seen a slowdown at all," he said. With Amazon.com, Google and Microsoft expanding in Seattle, he added that "we are ripe to continue to support these really early-stage companies."

Some of the startups that raised capital last year from Keiretsu included Carbon Nanoprobes, Earth Class Mail, Pulse Health, Theo Chocolate and PakSense.

Five Keiretsu Northwest companies -- Arena.net, Insight Schools, Signature Destinations, CleverSet and Sticky Drive -- have been acquired, and one -- Organic to Go -- has gone public, Dean said.