Angel Oregon Winners Blessed With Money
June 17th, 2005
Aliza Earnshaw, Portland Business Journal — View Original Article
The winner of the Angel Oregon business plan competition has gotten more than twice as much investment as originally promised. The two runners-up haven't done badly either, according to Eric Pozzo, chairman of the March event. "By my accounting, $335,000 has already gone into these companies, with many investors still on the sidelines waiting to see if more will be wanted." Pozzo said.
Pet Appeal, Inc., a Clackamas company that makes natural and organic pet foods, won the pot of $115,000, put up by a group of investors. Each investor had committed $5,000 in advance to whichever company was voted No. 1 in Angel Oregon's first-ever business plan competition. The event is held annually by Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum to educate angel investors and promote more investment in Oregon companies.
Besides winning the prize, Pet Appeal also received two $50,000 investments from people who saw the company's presentation, but had not participated in the prize pool.The two runners-up, Monsoon Inc. and Clinicient Inc., also got new investment from people who saw them at Angel Oregon.
"We got more than $100,000 from seven or eight new investors," said Kanth Gopalpur, CEO of Monsoon, which makes software which helps retailers sell their goods at Internet Marketplaces such as Amazon.com and EBay.
Gopalpur has participated in two venture capital events in Seattle and San Jose, Calif., this month and is now in discussions with potential investors who saw his presentations.