Over 120 participants from Iowa and neighboring states attended the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Iowa Angel Investor Summit at Landus’ downtown location on Tuesday. Now in its third year, the one-day summit was an opportunity for active and aspiring angel investors to come together to help accelerate entrepreneurship in Iowa.
Tej Dhawan, managing director and co-founder of Plains Angels, helped coordinate the summit, which featured a presentation on the fundamentals of angel investing, a panel of local angel investors on developing an investor strategy, a fireside chat with Cathy Connett, CEO and managing director of the Sophia Fund, and the Best of Midwest, a special investor pitch event featuring select startups actively fundraising.
Dhawan said there were numerous goals for launching and continuing the Angel Investor Summit. “First and foremost, we wanted to grow the angel investment climate and increase interest in our community’s entrepreneurship opportunities,” said Dhawan. In addition, the summit organizers wanted to encourage angels to reinvest returns back into the local community. Finally, the summit was designed to extend the reach of the Midwest Angel Syndicate, offering local investors the opportunity to participate in regional deals. Dhawan said organizers were pleased by the turnout of successful professionals, founders, entrepreneurs and angel investors.