Angel comes to the rescue for small investment needs - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The fund, called , has raised about $1.5 million from its 30 members so far, with plana to go as high as $3 With additional side investmentsfrom members, the fund could eventuallty have $5 million to $7 million under Twin Cities Angels will focus on deals betweebn $50,000 to perhaps $1 million, said founderr John Alexander. That puts it betweem the stagesof friends-and-family funding and low-end venture capita -- an area that's been lacking in Minnesota, criticzs say. Alexander said the fund could improvew the traditional angel in which entrepreneurs seek outindividuaol investors.
"We've been looking for a way to do it said Alexander, a former executive at The angel-network modelp pools the funds of individual investors, who also contributes time to research prospective Unlike a venture-capital firm, memberd don't collect fees, which keepsa overhead low. "This is an experiment, but it's one that' s been tried before [elsewhere] and it's workede pretty well," he said. Alexander's effort has attractesd about 30 peopleso far, includingv Tom Kieffer, a veterabn entrepreneur and a member of the Itasca a business-development group. Kieffer had met Alexandet while researching ways toimprove small-businesds development in the Twin Cities.
One of the thingsw Kieffer liked about the Twin Citiee Angels project was its willingness to be Many angelinvestors don't like to advertise their existence, whichb makes it hard for entrepreneurs to find "Having a network that's high-profile is tremendously he said. The group will be able to connect startups toa "shadoww network" of more secretive investors, as well. "I thinm this will help stimulate a lotof activity.
" The group's Web site, , is expected to go live this