Angel Investors West Virginia

Angel Investors Working with Entrepreneurs in West Virginia

At an entrepreneur conference in West Virginia, angel investor Mike Smith revealed that angels are working with a local West Virginia man to start a bottled water company that could enter New York and other Northeastern markets.  The startup was used as an incentive for other local entrepreneurs to get their businesses off the ground using angel capital.

In this area, the Gateway New Economy Council pulls together investment angels and acts like a centralized clearinghouse for the Angel Investment Network.  GENC works with entrepreneurs on their presentations to investors so they can defend their business plan, said Lori Rea, GNEC executive director.  “Angel investors want to invest in their own backyard,” she said. “They are hands on. Entrepreneurs have to expect that level of involvement.”  “If you need access to seed-stage capital, let us know,” Rea added.

A venture capital organization that also has invested in the tri-county is the West Virginia Jobs Investment Trust. STaSIS needed growth capital, so JIT approached an angel investor in Charleston who wrote them a check for $100,000, he said. Other organizations invested in the move as well, Zulauf said, such as the West Virginia Infrastructure Council, the Bank of Charles Town and the Jefferson County Development Authority.  STaSIS should break ground for its new facility at Summit Point in about a month, Zulauf said. He expects Gov. Joe Manchin to be there for the ground-breaking ceremony. STaSIS produces after-market performance-enhancing parts for Audi cars.

Other speakers at the entrepreneurs event were Gail Moxley of CNB Bank, and Christina Lundberg, manager of the Small Business Development Center of the Eastern Panhandle and Joe Brouse, business lender, of Natural Capital Investment Fund.  Meetings are usually held on the first Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. The next meeting will be on Sept. 3 at the Country Inn, Berkeley Springs.  Source