New York Angels

New York Angels is an organization of seed capital angel investors that provides equity capital for early stage companies, primarily in the field of technology and new media. It is based in New York City. Members typically invest between US$250,000 and US$1,000,000 in companies that have begun operations, but have not reached a stage for acquiring venture capital.

New York Angels is the successor group to the Angel Investor Program of the former New York New Media Association (NYNMA), which began as the industry association representing the fast-growing technology companies in the Manhattan technology cluster nicknamed Silicon Alley.

In 1997, NYNMA co-founders, including Brian Horey, Laura Sachar, Alain Bankier and Jason Wright, facilitated the creation of the program to match new entrepreneurs with experienced Angel Investors. Following the crash of the dot-com bubble, NYNMA was disbanded and, in 2003, some of its remaining active angel investors spun themselves off into a separate, not-for-profit group under the leadership of David S. Rose, a serial entrepreneur and investor.

Since 2003, New York Angels has invested over $50 million into more than 60 early stage companies, mainly in the New York area. Its 75 accredited investor members include Gideon Gartner (Gartner Group and GIGA), Esther Dyson (Release 1.0 and PC Forum), Alan Patricof (Apax Ventures and Greycroft Partners), Scott Kurnit (About.com), Roger Ehrenberg (IA Capital), Jeff Stewart (Mimeo.com), Jon Whelan (AfterNIC.com), Linda Holliday (Digitas Health) and other technology entrepreneurs. The group also accepts venture capital firms as members, among which are First Round Capital, SoftBank Ventures Korea (SBVK), RRE Ventures, and SAVP/Greenhill.

New York Angels was the inaugural member of the professional trade group of American angel investor organizations, Angel Capital Association.