IRVINE, Calif. – August 10, 2006 – Tech Coast Angels (TCA), the largest angel network in the United States, today announced that it was the leading source of first-time funding to Southern California companies seeking venture capital financing. TCA’s ranking was part of a special analysis of the “Money Tree Report” prepared for Entrepreneur magazine by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, and based on data from Thomson Financial. With seven first-time, startup and early-stage financings, TCA tied for seventh nationally with eight top-tier venture capital firms including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Greylock, Sequoia Capital and Venrock Associates. In addition to the seven first-time deals included in the report, TCA members also made 16 additional investments in 2005, for a total of 23 and $13.7M in capital invested.

“Over the past several years, TCA has focused on developing its members to become deal leads, which is critical to increasing the number of companies we fund each year,” said John Morris, TCA’s chairman. “As a result, more TCA members than ever are serving as active lead investors, so it is not surprising that, for the second year running, TCA is the leading source of early-stage financing to Southern California companies.”

For more information on the report, visit this report.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive