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Spokane entrepreneur and angel-investing fund organizer and adviser Tom Simpson says he has formed a new family of angel funds that shortly will begin making its first investments in emerging companies in the Inland Northwest.
Named Kick-Start II, the fund family has about $550,000 that Simpson says he expects will be invested in fledgling businesses over the next two to three years at an average of about $50,000 per investment.
Kick-Start II succeeds an initial angel fund family of similar size, dubbed Kick-Start I, that Simpson launched in 2009. He says that fund family has invested in 10 companies and will be making its 11th and final investment this month.
Simpson says he envisions launching additional Kick Start angel fund families successively in coming years - as in KickStart III and Kick-Start IV - as each one becomes fully invested, assuming that they perform well for participating investors.
Among the businesses here that have received investments through Kick-Start I are online eco-friendly products retailer Green Cupboards Inc., software design company Gravity Jack Inc., cloud computing provider 2nd Watch Inc., and hospital telepharmacy services provider Medical Review Inc.
Simpson says he formally kicked off Kick-Start II two weeks ago after receiving all of the more than half a million dollars in committed investment funds, and that investors in Kick-Start II include individuals and corporations here. He says he is one of the investors and...