Alamo Angels has invested $1.6M in 2022, an all-time high for the San Antonio-based angel investment group. That amount is almost triple the $600,000 the angel funding group invested in 2021 and equals the amount funded in Alamo Angel’s first five years.
Founded in 2016, Alamo Angels invests in innovative early-stage companies. The organization has invested $3.2 million in 32 active companies to date. Three-quarters of the companies are based in Texas, with 44% in San Antonio. Half of these companies are run by minority founders, and 25% of the companies have female founders or CEOs.
Alamo Angels’ most recent early-stage financing equity funding was awarded to three San Antonio-based startups: Betty’s Co., PrintNet3D, and Darkhive.
Betty’s Co. won the top prize in the 2021 TechFuel pitch contest for early-stage startups for their virtual healthcare platform for young women. PrintNet3D participated in Geekdom’s six-week pre-accelerator program in 2022 to develop software tools for optimizing a manufacturer’s workflow for 3D print operations.
Darkhive is developing an effective, affordable alternative drone for military and law enforcement use. After one year, the startup has secured government contracts to fuel its drone manufacturing starting in 2023.
Read more: Darkhive drone startup closes $1M pre-seed funding
Executive director Juan “Sebastian” Garzon works across San Antonio’s innovation ecosystem to identify and mentor promising founders who can benefit from early-stage angel funding.
“In 2022, we’ve well-surpassed expectations by investing $1.6M into 14 companies,” Garzon said. “This greatly contributed to the growing involvement from current or exited venture-backed founders, startup operators, and other high net-worth individuals looking to diversify their portfolio and become more involved in the startup ecosystem.”
Alamo Angels invested in 11 companies in 2022 – five in San Antonio, with the rest coming from other regions in Texas, the U.S., and Latin America. In addition to the three San Antonio startups, Alamo Angels also funded ASR Systems (developing an innovative new type of surgical retractor) and Axicle, a local startup with a life-saving semi-truck rollover prevention system.
Also notable in 2022 was 365 Retail Markets’ acquisition of ParLevel, a decade-old Geekdom startup selling software, and hardware tools for vending machines and automatic kiosks. The company sold for an undisclosed amount that local stakeholders estimate was in the tens of millions.
“Parlevel was Alamo Angels’ first-ever investment and its first exit,” Garzon said. “Their success is a positive signal to our early investors that shows winners can come out of San Antonio and will continue to deliver returns for investors.”
Alamo Angels also launched a new initiative in 2022. Its Venture Fellows program, in partnership with Trinity University, provides young adults opportunities to explore career pathways in startups.
The significance of Alamo Angels as an ecosystem stakeholder has helped many early-stage founders like PrintNet3D CEO Caleb Scott. “This investment will go a long way in helping us complete our fundraising round and continue work on our vision of expanding access to advanced manufacturing,” Scott said.
Despite the ongoing market correction, Garzon said Alamo Angels has an optimistic outlook for 2023.
“We are nearing 100 investors in our angel community and look forward to crossing that milestone in early 2023,” Garzon said. “We’ve come a long way since our founding in 2016. We are proof that an active and thriving angel community can exist in San Antonio.”
The featured image is of Alamo Angels CEO Sebastian Garzon (right) talking to a founder at VelocityTX, courtesy photo.
