
Bill Nyhan, one of the founders of eCoast Angels Investment Network, accepts the 易胜博官网 Paul J. Holloway Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Paul J. Holloway Prize Competition.
, an early-stage, business angel network founded in New England in 2000, has been named the University of 易胜博官网鈥檚 Paul J. Holloway Entrepreneur of the Year.
eCoast Angels was founded by five 易胜博官网 Seacoast entrepreneurs. From its start, the group had a vision of giving back to the community by investing in, and mentoring, entrepreneurs of early-stage start-up companies who were passionate about their company.
In addition to investing money, the group believed offering entrepreneurs the experience, knowledge, networking capabilities, oversight, and interest in mentoring, of its members would be just as valuable as the money they invested. Since its inception, eCoast has grown to become the largest early-stage investment group in northern New England with 40+ members, and new members joining every month. Since 2021, it has been a goal of eCoast to add more women investors to its membership and to invest in companies led by a diverse management team.
A key element in eCoast鈥檚 success is a willingness to support companies as they grow and the ability to fund later stage rounds when the capital needs are larger. Since its founding, eCoast Angel members and the regional network of investors it developed have invested more than $100 million in early-stage companies and are 鈥渆specially proud鈥 of the numerous jobs that its investments have helped to create. In the past 15 months, eCoast has been the lead investor in twelve deals, raising more than $17 million for early-stage companies.
he strategy of collaborating closely with entrepreneurs, supporting them with follow-on funding, and guiding them on the journey from start to exit has been rewarding for eCoast. To date, its members have been rewarded by participating in more than $1 billion of M&A activity
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Written By:
Sharon Keeler | Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics | sharon.keeler@unh.edu | 6038623775