TRAVERSE CITY – Last month’s organizational meeting for the Traverse Angels drew a dozen potential investors. Founder Robert Ochtel said he’s so happy with the response, he may launch two more angel investing groups in the Northern Michigan region.

�??I�??m looking at developing other groups in other parts of Michigan, but I�??m not yet ready to share those details,�?� he said in an interview Friday. �??What we found from our May meeting is the interest level is there. In fact there was more money available than I thought.

�??Our strategy is to focus on remote geographic regions that have large retirement communities with high net worth individuals.�?�

Traverse Angels will take a look at two promising deals in July at its next meeting. Ochtel said he has not yet nailed down the date, but it will be held the week of July 14.

The group is prospecting for investments in Northern Michigan and California. Ochtel has managers in both regions that screen deals. What Traverse Angels is looking for are companies, not too early stage, that will generate revenues within 12 to 18 months and turn profits a year or so after that.

The group plans to invest from $500,000 to $2 million per deal, positioning itself as a mid-level player. Most angel groups cap investments at $500,000 to $1 million; venture capitalists typically invest millions of dollars in a company.

Traverse Angels is an invitation-only, select network of successful entrepreneurs,

professionals as well as business and community leaders in the Traverse City area who are interested in providing investment capital, strategic advice and mentoring to early-stage companies to help them achieve market leadership.

The mission of the Traverse Angels network is twofold: (1) To identify and help grow early-stage companies and the local economic base of the Traverse City geographic region; and (2) To provide its members with exceptional �??quality�?� deal flow and an outstanding financial return on their time commitment and invested capital.

If you are an individual interested in becoming a member of Traverse Angels, and receiving a Traverse Angels Investor Package, for review, contact Robert Ochtel at . Or email him at email [email protected]

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