Mid-America Angels set for second consecutive record-breaking year

The Mid-America Angels is poised to make 2016 a record-breaking year.

The area investment group already has deployed $1.7 million via seven deals in the first six months of 2016, setting pace for its biggest year of investment in its ten-year history. In 2015, the firm set a record for its amount of capital deployed, dishing out $2.8 million via 9 investments.

In total, MAA has provided more than $20 million in capital to early-stage firms since 2006.

“Over the past ten years, we have been proud to support the growth of Kansas City’s early-stage companies through the deployment of private capital,” MAA managing director Rick Vaughn said in a release. “This year, we are on pace to support the growth of more Kansas City companies than ever before, and perhaps most importantly, our membership is growing as more investors begin to recognize the potential of early-stage investment as an asset class.”

In 2016, MAA invested in JobShakers, an employee referral software application and Tomboy Exchange, an apparel company. Other deals in 2016 provided follow-on capital to MAA’s existing portfolio companies, including Elias Animal Health, TVAX Biomedical, Nitride Solutions, Metactive Medical and Hilary’s Eat Well.

Seattle-based Tomboy Exchange is a new portfolio firm for MAA. It joined in a round led by the Women’s Capital Connection, which invested $115,000 in the company. Tomboy sells women’s underwear, clothing, jewelry and bags.