Maine Angels named one of top angel investing groups in the U.S.

The Maine Angels, a group of angel investors, were one of the Top 10 most active angel investor groups in the country last year. The group, which has 51 members, invested a record $3.39 million in 21 early-stage companies in 2012. Pictured here are Don Gooding (left), the group’s vice chair, and Sandra Stone, the group’s chair.

The Maine Angels, a group of individual (or “angel”) investors who pool their capital and expertise to fund early-stage companies, recently joined similar groups from such vaunted startup communities as Silicon Valley, Boston, and New York City, on a list of the most active angel investor groups in the country.

In 2012, the Maine Angels, which has 51 members, invested just shy of $3.4 million in 21 separate deals, enough to break the group’s previous annual record and to place it #10 on a list of the Top 10 most active angel investing groups in the country.

The list is included in the 2012 Halo Report, a national survey of angel investing activity published last month by the Angel Resource Institute, Silicon Valley Bank and CB Insights. The report is based on 783 deals totaling $1.1 billion dollars invested.

“It’s extremely gratifying to see Maine Angels receive national recognition for our active participation in the Maine and broader New England entrepreneurial ecosystem,” Don Gooding, vice chair of the group and executive director of the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development, told me in an email. “If anyone had any doubts before about our organization actively funding companies, those should be put to rest now. And it’s likely to turn some heads around the country and make them wonder: ‘What’s going on in Maine?'”

We may not have Silicon Valley shaking in its shoes, but it’s a good start.

For more on the Maine Angels record-breaking year, read my article from Feb. 15: “Maine Angels set mark for helping companies take flight, but fear falling investments in 2013.”

For entrepreneurs hoping to raise funds through angel investors, visit the Maine Angels website.

Whit Richardson

About Whit Richardson

Whit Richardson is Business Editor at the Bangor Daily News. He blogs about Maine business, entrepreneurs and the economy.