After a decade of not experiencing a successful exit, the Maine Angels are now on a roll.
Just months after two members of the Maine Angels marked the group’s first successful exit, two more members have realized a return on an investment in another startup and cashed out.
Two Maine Angels members have sold their shares in EzCater, a Weston, Mass.-based startup that Sandra Stone, chair of the Maine Angels, calls “Expedia for corporate catering.”
The investors, who wish to remain anonymous, sold their early shares in the company at a profit to Insight Venture Partners, a New York-based venture capital firm, which was buying up shares as part of a Series C round in the company.
The Maine Angels are a group of wealthy individuals (to make these type of investments you need to be recognized as an accredited investor by the SEC) who pool their resources, experience and company research to make strategic investments in startups in New England.
The Maine Angels first invested in EzCater in 2011, followed by follow-on rounds in 2012 and 2014, for a total investment of more than $380,000, according to Stone.
Stone wasn’t sure of the exact return the members received on their investment, but estimated that the one member who completely cashed out got at least a 3.4X return.
Maine Angels will keep EzCater in its portfolio, as the investors sold their Series A and B shares, but one retained some of the original A-1 shares “to participate in future growth,” Stone said.
So, far the Maine Angels’ two successful exits have been from investments in Massachusetts-based startups. However, Stone said she “would certainly hope to see a successful exit from one of our Maine companies as well.”
The Maine Angels have 57 companies in its portfolio, and roughly 50 percent of them are Maine companies.
Maine Angels ended 2014 with more than $2 million in investments in 26 deals (comprised of investments in nine new companies and 17 various sized follow-on investments). That brings the group’s total lifetime investment to more than $13 million since the first Maine Angels investment in 2004.
The angels added two Maine companies to its portfolio earlier this year: Chimani, a Yarmouth-based startup that builds outdoors-focused apps, and SaviLinx, a Brunswick-based provider of back-office support and call-center services.
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