Keiretsu Forum gives angel investors worldwide wings San Francisco Business Times by Mark Calvey, Senior Reporter
Date: Friday, November 23, 2012,
The Keiretsu Forum, an angel investor network based in Lafayette, has expanded into Istanbul and plans its 26th chapter closer to home when a chapter in Toronto opens early next year.
The 12-year-old angel network operates four chapters in the Bay Area. The chapter structure allows investors to bring companies getting funding in one chapter to the attention of others in the network. The network also leverages the due diligence conducted by investors in one chapter by sharing it with investors in other chapters — what Keiretsu founder Randy Williams calls “swarm intelligence.”
Last week, the Keiretsu Forum conducted its Angel Expo in San Francisco, drawing some 300 participants with a dozen companies making presentations for capital and seven providing updates.
The Expo gave investors three fake $1 million bills to cast votes on what they consider the most promising companies at the event. Of course, entrepreneurs hope that investor confidence translates into real money in the weeks ahead.
At the Nov. 15 Angel Expo, the third-place finisher for Most Valued Company Award was First Sense Medical, working on a medical device for early detection of breast cancer; second-place went to beverage company B&R Liquid Adventures, maker of Búcha brand kombucha; and first place went to Sword Diagnostics, offering technology to improve detection in biomedical tests used in drug discovery and medical diagnostics.
