Southern Oregon Angel Investors Announce Winners $215,000 goes to Nouvola

Medford, Ore. – April 30, 2014:  – This afternoon the Southern Oregon Angel Investment Network, an economic development initiative administered by Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development, Inc. (SOREDI) announced its investment of $215,000 in Nouvola a software company in the Launch Stage Contest at the fourth annual Southern Oregon Angel Conference.

The People’s Choice Award, which was a vote by the audience, was awarded to InStove.

In addition to this year’s winner other Launch Stage finalists included Fire Cirkl, Homeschool Technical Apparel, and Rogue Rovers.

In the Concept Stage Contest the audience also had the vote awarding the prize to Gro-Volution. The winner will receive a $2,500 cash grant from Palo Alto Software, six months of office space at The Boardroom Suites in Grants Pass valued at $4,000, in-kind brand and marketing services from Pnuema33 valued at $2,500, in-kind financial services from CFO Solutions – NW valued at $2,000, and in-kind tuition in the Rogue Community College Avista Center for Entrepreneurship program valued at $1,000.

In addition to this year’s winner other Concept Stage finalists included ACES, GoTimeVideo, and Studio 1 Café.

To prepare for the Angel Conference accredited investors in the network collaborated to raise a $200,000 investment pool. This included 22 investors at $5,000 per unit and two institutional investors; the Oregon Department of Treasury at $50,000 and the Oregon Community Foundation at $20,000.

This year nearly 20 companies submitted business plans to investors for review and consideration for the seed capital investment. After nearly three months of review, due diligence and repeated meetings with the founders of these companies, investors concluded with this fourth Southern Oregon Angel Conference.

Looking back on recent success, investors have fielded interest from nearly 100 companies seeking startup and expansion capital since late 2010. Those gaining the most interest from among investors have been scalable companies with well-defined growth and exit strategies. In its fourth round the Angel Network has invested $880,000 from among 57 individual investors as well as the Oregon Department of Treasury and the Oregon Community Foundation. The past investments include Folium Partners of Ashland at $300,000, Montrue Technologies of Ashland at $160,000, JettStream of Bend at $220,000 and now Nouvola at $215,000.