San Antonio-based Alamo Angels, a group that invests in startups, announced Cat Dizon is leaving the executive director role and will be transitioning out later this month, according to an email sent to Alamo Angel members Tuesday.
Before joining Alamo Angels in September 2018, Dizon was co-founder, chief operating officer, and partner at Active Capital, a venture firm based in San Antonio focused on leading seed rounds for business-to-business software as a service (SaaS) companies. She continued as a part-time Active Capital venture partner throughout her tenure at Alamo Angels and plans to return to Active Capital to help grow the firm she co-founded.
Read more: Alamo Angels Names Cat Dizon as Its New Executive Director
“With the support of Pat [Matthews, Active Capital founder] and the [Alamo Angels] board, I dove in and have worked tirelessly over the last six months to help both organizations, Dizon wrote. “Both organizations are now growing, thriving and really do need dedicated leadership.”
Alamo Angels has grown since launching as the San Antonio Angel Network in December 2016. They work with entrepreneurs who have already done considerable preparation, have the product or company in place, and are ready to grow in scale.
The group started with five angel investors and has grown to 106 angel investors who have collectively invested $3 million in 17 companies, including local startups Parlevel, Progenerative Medical, Dauber, Funnel AI, and HelpSocial.
The Alamo Angels hold memberships in the national-level Angel Capital Association and the Alliance of Texas Angel Networks, which is made up of 13 groups across the state, allowing the San Antonio-based organization to participate in syndicated deals.
“Both organizations have grown to a point where they each need dedicated leadership,” Alamo Angels board chair Amit Mehta said. “We’re having the most deal flow since the inception of the network so we’re looking to onboard someone soon.”
Active Capital is a relatively new firm, operating since 2017. In less than two years, the venture capital firm has raised over $21 million for 20 founder-led companies in the business-to-business (B2B) software as a service (SaaS) market.
Pat Matthews is an entrepreneur turned investor. He co-founded a B2B SaaS company called Webmail.us in 2002, sold it to Rackspace in 2007, and was an executive at Rackspace from 2007 to 2013.
“Cat and I have worked together for nearly a decade dating back to our Rackspace days,” Matthews said. “She’s a uniquely talented person and I’m ecstatic to have her back full time with our firm. I have been very involved with Alamo Angels since its inception and am sad to see her leave there — but I agree that it needs dedicated leadership to get to the next level.”
Matthews has stepped down from the Alamo Angels board and San Antonio attorney Rahul Patel has joined in his place.
The work San Antonio investors have done building a pipeline of startups ready for venture capital is paying off, with investors from major Texas metropolitan areas participating more in local deal flow.
Active Capital recently led on a funding round for FunnelAI’s $1.5 million that included participation from angel investors from San Antonio and Houston. Since last fall, Alamo Angels funded Easy Expunctions, Collbox, Transect, Tenavox, and FunnelAI in a follow-up round of funding.
Dizon plans to remain an engaged member of Alamo Angels and help the board bring on a new, full-time executive director.
“The amount of deals finding their way to us is the kind of activity we want because it is great for the city, our investors and the local startup ecosystem,” Dizon told Startups San Antonio. “Our investing community is getting more active in angel investing and venture capital and that’s making San Antonio a destination for startups looking for funding.”
Featured image is of an Alamo Angels pitch event at the Maverick. Photo credit: Startups San Antonio.
