Angel Investing
Urbana-Champaign Angel Network
Mission
The mission of the Urbana-Champaign Angel Network (UCAN) is to provide a forum for accredited investors to access and review selected investment opportunities in a confidential, efficient and effective manner. UCAN’s emphasis is to further economic development in the Champaign County area by matching capital providers with some of the best start-up business opportunities.
UCAN Membership
If you are an accredited investor as defined by the IRS, you are invited to apply for membership in UCAN by completing the Membership Application. Prospective members are encouraged to review the Membership Guidelines. Additional information is available by contacting the Executive Director of UCAN, former President and CEO of Busey Bank, Lee O’Neill at oneilllee@prairieinet.net or 217.898.4529.
Companies Needing Investments
If you are an entrepreneur or owner of a business that is seeking investment capital, you can provide information to UCAN through Angelsoft.
UCAN Investing Process
1. Entrepreneur completes a registration with the UCAN website hosted by Gust.
2. Entrepreneur submits company information to the UCAN site (for example, business plan, PowerPoint presentation, financial projections, and any other document that would assist the Selection Committee in reviewing the business opportunity). Submitted companies are considered “Deals” in the AngelSoft system “Deal Room”.
3. The EDC UCAN Selection Committee reviews each submitted Deal.
4. A subset of the submitted Deals are selected for presentation at the next meeting of the UCAN membership. These entrepreneurs are notified of their selection via email.
5. Companies selected to present are informed of the meeting date and venue.
6. Entrepreneurs then prepare a presentation approximately 10 to 13 minutes in length for presentation at the upcoming meeting.
7. The UCAN membership meeting will feature four to five presenting entrepreneurs/companies and a networking hour for more intimate interaction of the parties.
8. Each angel investor makes an individual decision whether to obtain more information from a presenting company and, ultimately whether to invest in the presenting company.
9. Generally speaking, a more detailed Due Diligence process is commenced by the interested angel(s).
10. The company and interested angel(s) work out terms and complete the investment.
Questions about the process can be directed to the EDC Angel Committee Chairman, Tim Hoerr at tim@serraventures.com or 217.819.5201.
