Brain-boosting granola bars go institutional, 300+ "zombiecorns" stalk the unicorn graveyard, and why most angels can't pitch their own thesis

Happy Thursday.

Here are your angel deals of the week, some bookmarks I think you’ll enjoy, and the best nugget from my conversation with Dr. Silvia Mah, Director of Innovation at Biola University and Chairwoman of Stella Foundation.

🔥 Angel Deals of the Week

🤝 Recent funding rounds from angel networks. I have not personally vetted these deals and am sharing for informational purposes only. Have one to announce? Reply to this email.

🤖 Deal summaries generated using dealmemo.ai.

🧾 Check out every deal we’ve tracked here.

Left Main REI | AI-powered real estate CRM

Participating Group: Charlotte Angel Fund

Left Main REI operates a Salesforce-based CRM platform serving 3,000+ residential and commercial real estate investors, agents, and brokers. The company is launching Left Main Genius, an AI-powered suite beginning with Property Sales AI, which matches CRM lead records with recently sold properties to reduce marketing waste and improve ROI. The company secured funding from Charlotte Angel Fund and other investors to accelerate growth and expand AI offerings in a real estate market where McKinsey estimates AI will contribute $110-180 billion in value.

Stephanie Betters | Investment Round | Charlotte, NC | May 2025 | Source

Omega 3 Nutrition | Brain boosting food

Participating Group: Dingman Center Angels

Omega 3 Nutrition develops clean-label granola bars and cereals enriched with omega-3 fatty acids for K-12 schools, universities, hospitals, and airlines. The Maryland-based company has achieved early-stage profitability while serving school districts nationwide through its in-house manufacturing model.

The company closed their Seed round led by Capitalize VC, with participation from Dingman Center Angels, and other angel investors. Funds will support national expansion of their B2B distribution network.

Bright Djampa | Series Seed | Rockville, MD | May 2025 | Source

ADVENTUM TECH | Real-time construction monitoring solutions

Participating Group: Latvian Business Angels Network (LatBAN)

ADVENTUM TECH develops wireless real-time monitoring solutions for the construction industry, offering complete turn-key monitoring services that include sensors for real-time data collection and software for data analysis. The Latvia-based company leverages its team's extensive global construction industry experience to address end-customer needs. The company secured ~$285K (€250K) from the Latvian Business Angels Network to advance its monitoring technology for construction projects of varying complexity.

Nikita Gorbatko | Up to $285K | Latvia | May 2025 | Source

🔖 Bookmarks

1. 🪦 RIP SEO (Sort Of): Thought piece from Zach Cohen and Seema Amble of A16z on why the $80 billion SEO market is cracking as search shifts from browsers to LLMs.

2. 🧟‍♂️ The Walking Dead: New SVB report shows the unicorn herd is aging badly: we’ve got 300+ zombiecorns with terrible growth metrics and nowhere to exit (check out slide 12 for more).

3. 🧬 Life is Just Math We Can't See: NFX's James Currier breaks down how network effects determine where we live, who we marry, and our career path.

In partnership with Angel Capital Association

If you want to connect with experienced angel investors, stay ahead of trends, and tap into a wealth of resources, the Angel Capital Association (ACA) is the place to be. With 15,000+ members and $650M+ invested annually, ACA brings together the best minds in angel investing.

From Angel University’s practical education to the annual ACA Summit and exclusive reports, ACA equips members with the tools and connections to make smarter decisions. I’ve really enjoyed being part of this community, and I highly recommend it to anyone serious about angel investing.

Discover ACA membership

🥇 The Nugget: My Top Takeaway from This Week’s Conversation with Dr. Silvia Mah

Angels need to practice the “pitch” too 🎯

Angels spend countless hours evaluating founder pitches. And yet, so many of us struggle to articulate our own investment thesis in a crisp way.

How do I know?

Last month I spoke to a room of a dozen angel investors. I asked “How many of you have a clear investment thesis you could share with us in 1 sentence?”

No one raised their hand.

While I’m all for being “opportunistic”, this lack of clarity on what we’re looking for can create a vicious cycle: fuzzy thesis leads to fuzzy deal flow leads to poor founder/investor fit leads to low “value-add” leads to poor performance.

Just like entrepreneurs practice their pitch until it's muscle memory, my conversation with Dr. Mah left me thinking how we as investors ought to exercise the same discipline around our investment strategy.

Takeaway: Can you articulate your angel investment thesis/strategy?

Consider writing it down on one page and practice pitching it in every investor conversation for the next month. A crisp 30-second answer to "what do you invest in?" attracts aligned founders and co-investors while filtering out mismatched opportunities.

Want more? Check out my full conversation with Dr. Mah 👇

🎙️ Latest Episode

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more.

🧰 Toolkit

📽️ Back to School: Graham Weaver's Stanford GSB Last Lecture on applying asymmetric investing principles to life.

🎙️ Live from Dallas: We're recording episodes for The Diligent Observer podcast live at DFW Startup Week's Future of Venture Forum on August 7, 2:15-6 pm. Register for free and come say hi!

⚙️ Level Up: Give your angel group a professional upgrade with PitchFact's managed operations service. They handle deal flow, diligence coordination, member communications, platform management and more - freeing you up to focus on what matters most. Learn more.*

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Until Next Week 👋

Thanks for reading - have a great week.

-Andrew

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