Record Year for University of
Maryland’s Dingman Center Angels
Investments in 2011 Give Eight Regional Startups a Boost
COLLEGE PARK, MD -- The end of 2011 marked the close of an
active year for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of
Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and its Dingman Center Angels
investor network. In the past year, members invested in eight regional
companies, making 2011 the network’s most active year since its founding in
2004. Investments included Brazen Careerist, CirrusWorks, Nexercise, SevaCall,
Spinnakr, Spotflux, Veenome, and YouEye.
“Dingman Center Angels’ investment activity pipeline of high quality
companies and growth in membership illustrates the renaissance of
entrepreneurial activity and investment in this region,” said Elana Fine,
Dingman Center’s director of venture investments. “This past year, our angels
invested in innovative companies, including Veenome and SevaCall, that
understand their target customer and have developed clear and thoughtful
go-to-market strategies.”
Veenome, a video indexing and discovery platform, closed a $500,000 deal with
substantial funding from the network’s members. Dingman Center
angel-in-residence Jason Shrensky is among the group making an investment in the
company. “Veenome came to Dingman claiming to have an object-recognition
algorithm to make video searchable. I used a prototype of the Veenome service
and I loved it. Now I am an investor in a company that could unlock a whole new
way to monetize free video on the web. If you are an angel investor, companies
like Veenome are what you want to see in your deal flow.”
In another major deal, SevaCall raised $1.3 million in Series A funding.
Founded by University of Maryland alumni Gurpreet and Manpreet Singh, SevaCall
connects people with professional service providers. Portions of the funding
came from Dingman Center Angel members, as well as Jamie and David Dingman, sons
of center benefactor Michael Dingman.
Looking towards 2012, the Dingman Center sees continued growth for startup
opportunities in the mid-Atlantic region. For more information on joining the
angel investor network or companies interested in presenting contact
Elana Fine.
About the Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship
The Dingman Center has been a hub of campus and regional entrepreneurial
activity for 25 years. Among the Dingman Center’s resources are its Dingman
Center Angels, a pipeline that connects startups from regional tech councils,
incubators and state-funded institutions with a network of more than 40 active,
accredited angel investors and venture capitalists for early-stage capital. The
center also helps lead the University of Maryland’s Technology Transfer
programs, manages global entrepreneurship programs in China and Israel, and
provides MBA and undergraduate students at the university with practical
experiences and opportunities to pitch their business ideas, obtain feedback
from experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence and access funding.
About the Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader
in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the
University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate,
full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive
education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The
school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning
locations in North America and Asia.
