Since I often get questions from people as to whether entrepreneurs are getting any funding through ZINO Society, I want to share some statistics. I was suitably impressed when I realized how much had been raised since our previous ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum (which actually occurred on the day of the crash in the banking market last September). As we go about our everyday business, I think we are generally too close to it and don’t recognize what an important service ZINO Society is providing to entrepreneurs who are seeking funding.
Over the past several months, I had heard from multiple sources that entrepreneurs have not been getting funding locally through any of the other local angel groups, so I was very happy and surprised to realize that between our last ZZIF on September 16, 2008 until our most recent ZZIF on September 17, 2009, ZINO Societyhas facilitated an additional $4.9 million in both new and additional round funding to companies that have applied to present at ZINO Society! This number does not count other angel investments that have been made outside the ZINO Society entrepreneurs (we call “ZINOpreneurs”). We went from a cumulative total of $8.1 million in September, 2008 to a cumulative total of $13.0 million today. Of course, this only includes the funding that I know about. Though we always encourage both the entrepreneurs and the investors to let us know when they invest, I realize that we don’t always receive this information. If you are an investor or an entrepreneur that has funded or received funding through ZINO Society connections, please do let me know!
Here are the actual total cumulative statistics of angel funds raised through ZINO Society each September for the four years that we have been producing ZINO Zillionaire Investment Forum:
ZZIF 2006 $2.0 million
ZZIF 2007 $7.6 million
ZZIF 2008 $8.1 million
ZZIF 2009 $13.0 million
I was an investor in the first two ZZIF events. It's been good to watch the companies we picked grow, succeed and sometimes even fail. I'm happy to see ZINO continue to grow through the downturn. There are always good ideas and great entrepreneurs to turn them into reality.
ReplyDeleteDavid
I am glad to learn that your fund has expanded against the general ebbing tide in capital. I, like a lot of people simply stopped looking last year when many prospects dried up.
ReplyDeleteI might resume our partner search sooner than later now.
Andrew Deal
Www.cellecast.com
@anonymous
ReplyDeleteDavid~ it would be great to have you involved once again in helping us invest. We are in the midst of due diligence now and are taking much more time in that process prior to announcing the winner than we did in the first 3 ZZIFs.
@drewdeal
Thank you, Andrew. Best of luck in your partner search.
Cathi,
ReplyDeleteKudos to you and your team - you have done a great job both with Zino Society and helping others achieve their dreams - doesn't get any better than that - keep up the GREAT work...
Blaine
@BlaineMillet