Mid-America Angels race for record-setting investment year
April 30, 2015 | Bobby Burch
After investing nearly $1 million in the first quarter of 2015, regional investment network Mid-America Angels is on pace for its best year yet.
Mid-America Angels injected $870,000 of funding into two area companies during the first three months of 2015, which sets it on a pace to surpass $3 million in investments for the year. Mid-America Angels — whose investments include such companies as EyeVerify, Novita Therapeutics, RareWire and others — is managed by the Enterprise Center of Johnson County.
The investment group recently backed Olathe-based TVAX Animal Health with a $696,000 investment that will offer the company funds to kickstart clinical chemotherapy testing in dogs. TVAX Animal health is a subsidiary of Lenexa-based TVAX Biomedical.
Mid-America Angels also supplied $178,000 to Kansas City-based Rawxies, which makes raw, vegan snacks. The new funds will allow the company to build out its sales and marketing channels, as well as expand its product offerings.
“We’re proud to welcome two additional companies to our MAA portfolio, and look forward to working with the management teams of TVAX Animal Health and Rawxies to ensure both their continued growth and job growth in our region,” ECJC CEO George Hansen said in a release.
Featured Business

2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Tesseract Ventures awarded $1.25M grant for R&D at home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber
One of Kansas City’s most innovative startups announced Thursday a direct-to-Phase II SBIR Grant with Whiteman Air Force Base — teaming the next-generation robotics leader with the U.S. military to launch smart technology with global impact, said John Boucard. “We are honored to work alongside some of the military’s most visionary minds, as we develop…
This North Kansas City hub will be base camp for GEWKC 2022; Deadline for event applications nears
KCSourceLink announced this week that Global Entrepreneurship Week-Kansas City, the metro’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship, has a new base camp for its 15th year. The Nov. 14-20 weeklong event series is setting its main events at iWerx in North Kansas City. Popular nearby businesses like Restless Spirits, Cinder Block Brewery and Chicken N Pickle will…
Alone or in the club: Virtual jukebox app spins back after laying new tracks as a social experience
Former music promoter Adell Hendon said he knew he couldn’t keep the turnup going forever on his own. Now the Kansas City native is helping other people party even longer with his socially-interactive virtual jukebox app — YouSpin. “I used to throw a lot of parties with DJs and even independent artists — a lot…
Nightlife app enhances its flavor with Westport Bars, KC brewing company partnerships
A strategic partnership with Westport Bars is going to do more than drive partygoers to the UpDown Nightlife app, Joshua Lewis said; it will give the startup data needed to scale its platform nationwide. “Through this partnership, we’re going to be able to really build out our business model,” said Lewis, the founder and CEO…
