Mid-America Angels invested $3.6M in record-breaking 2016

For the second consecutive year, the Mid-America Angel Network posted a record-breaking year of investing.

In 2016, the Kansas City-based network invested $3.6 million via 15 deals in startups, topping its 2015 totals of $2.8 million in nine investments.

“What you see here is the result of several years of work, not just one,“ MAA managing director Rick Vaughn said in a release. “2016’s success was driven by our existing portfolio along with an increase in investable deal flow. This is the result of many complementary organizations and programs working together to encourage entrepreneurial growth in Kansas City and across the region.”

The record-breaking totals are thanks in part to the Mid-America Angels’ expansion. Angel investors from Manhattan, Kan., and St. Joseph, Mo., joined the network in 2016, which helped facilitate more applicants to tap MAA funding.

New companies that joined the MAA portfolio in 2016 are JobShakers, Life Equals, Tomboy Exchange and Kenzen. Most of the deals in 2016 provided follow-on capital for existing portfolio companies, the organization said. Since its launch in 2006, the angel group has made 85 investments totaling over $21 million.