New Group Seeks Iowa Women Angel Investors (Press Release)

A new angel investor group slated for Iowa will focus on women investors and entrepreneurs.

The Iowa Center for Economic Success is looking to create the "Iowa Angel Network," a working name for a group of accredited female investors that would invest in Iowa startups.

On Friday, the Iowa Economic Development Authority awarded $175,000 to help set up the angel investor network. The state funds are not for investment purposes and the authority will not be a member of the investment group, according to documents filed with the IEDA.

Megan Milligan, CEO for the Iowa Center for Economic Success, said the network is meant to encourage more Iowa women to get into investing and boost investments in Iowa companies, mainly those with women owners or executives.

Inspiration for the Iowa Angel Network comes from reports showing Iowa last or near-last for the "economic clout" of its women business owners. A 2014 Battelle report also pointed toward the "lagging performance" of new business startup activity in Iowa, suggesting access to more capital could help.

“We are dead last on women investing. And we are dead last in even women startups," Iowa Economic Development Director Debi Durham said Friday during the authority's monthly meeting.

The Iowa network will be framed off of Women's Capital Connection, a Kansas City-based group of angel investors started in 2008 to invest in women-owned businesses.

Milligan said the Iowa Center for Economic Success liked that the Kansas City organization brought a group of women together to specifically talk about investing.

"It's not a few women and then Uncle Bob helping them out. It's women-led, women-focused. They’re solving this problem themselves," she said. "We really liked what we saw with that model."

Milligan said she hopes the Iowa Angel Network has five to 10 founding investors. The center plans to start pulling members together in January and February. It plans to hold its first pitch event in early to mid-2016. While the network will place a priority on Iowa startups with women in executive positions, Milligan said it would not discount deals from out of state.

The group, Milligan said, will educate women on how to invest and manage their investments. The network is partnering with River Glen Private Capital in West Des Moines to manage investments.

"These are high-risk, this is serious investing. It’s a lot more complicated than just picking your mutual fund," Milligan said. "If we really want to change the state, we obviously want to get more women investing, but we also want to get more women talking about it in an educated way."

Written by Matthew Patane. Register reporter Kevin Hardy contributed to this report.

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