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Gourmet Cocoa Raises $750K, the Perils of SAFE Stacking, and Angel Investing with a Double Bottom Line
🔥 Angel Deals of the Week | September 11, 2025
Andrew Kazlow
September 11, 2025 • Reading Time: 7 minutes
Happy Thursday, and thanks for pausing with me today to remember 9/11/01.
In today’s issue:
Angel Deals of the Week
BIG NEWS: We overhauled the Angel Network Investment Tracker (84 deals & 62 networks tracked). What you think?
Bookmarks I think you’ll enjoy
The best nugget from my conversation at DFW Startup Week with Bill Chinn, CEO of The DEC Network
🔥 Angel Deals of the Week
Angel funding rounds announced in recent weeks, compiled from public sources. These deals represent the elite few that survived an angel network’s vetting process. Note: I have not personally analyzed these companies and am sharing for informational and editorial purposes only.
🤖 Deal summaries generated using dealmemo.ai.
📊 Angel Network Investment Tracker: 84 Deals, 62 Networks.
Cosynd | Creator copyright protection platform
Participating Groups: Accelerating Angels
Cosynd develops a cloud-based copyright protection platform serving thousands of creators across 160+ countries, protecting millions of assets reaching 3 billion people daily. The company provides automated copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office and legal agreements for collaborators, serving major publishers including Hearst, Conde Nast, and Axel Springer, plus music catalog owners like Epidemic Sound. Cosynd recently secured investment from Accelerating Angels to support expansion of its copyright protection tools for creators and businesses globally.
Jessica Sobhraj | New York, NY | September 2025 | Source
Alphyn Biologics | Breakthrough skin disease therapeutics
Participating Group: Gulf South Angels
Alphyn Biologics is developing Zabalafin Hydrogel, a steroid-free topical treatment for atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema. The botanical drug targets both inflammation and bacteria that cause the skin condition. Phase 2a trials in adults and children met all endpoints, showing significant improvements in itch, quality of life, and skin inflammation with excellent patient tolerability. The company recently started Phase 2b global trials and holds a U.S. patent through 2042.
Neal Koller | Annapolis, MD | September 2025 | Source
Cup of Coa | Gourmet hot cocoa
Participating Group: Nebraska Angels
Cup of Coa is developing premium hot cocoa products with a proprietary milk-based "add-water-only" formula that simplifies preparation for both consumers and businesses. The Kearney-based company serves 34 states and five countries through wholesale partnerships, direct-to-consumer sales, and trade show participation. Cup of Coa recently secured $750,000 in seed funding from Invest Nebraska, Nebraska Angels, Nelnet, and other private investors to expand operations, team, and product offerings while preparing for large-scale growth.
Jasmin McGinnis | $750,000 Seed | Kearney, NE | September 2025 | Source
📣 Have an Angel Deal to Announce?
🔖 Bookmarks
💥 The Dangers of SAFE Stacking: Great piece from Mostly Metrics shows how stacking SAFEs like Lego blocks is a terrible idea and causes founders to lose track of dilution.
🎫 Third Time's the Charm: StubHub is attempting its third IPO targeting a $9.3 billion valuation after pulling listings in April and last summer.
💰 AI's First Big Copyright Payout: Anthropic settles with authors for $1.5 billion, paying $3,000 per book for 500,000 pirated works used in training.
🥇 The Nugget: My Top Takeaway from A Conversation with Bill Chinn
Philanthropist Angel Investor 💝
Angel investors are a beautiful mess.
As confusing as it may seem, experience shows that for the average angel, profit maximization is NOT the sole objective.
If you think about it, this makes sense. They’re just people. People who are writing highly personal, 1-1 checks purely because they want to.
And they don’t have to justify those investment decisions (except perhaps to a spouse!).
Despite the crusty “we only care about ROI” exterior many great angels lead with, I’ve found that they are some of the most kind, generous people I know, and Bill’s DFW-focused perspective affirms this. Angels in his community volunteer countless hours judging pitch competitions in underserved parts of the city, mentor entrepreneurs where returns are a decade away (maybe), and fill funding gaps for founders without robust friends-and-family networks.
From Bill: "They're all about ROI and they should be all about ROI, but they also wanna give back to the community... they're super generous in terms of judging pitch competitions in the southern sector of Dallas. Mentoring organizations where the ROI is gonna be a decade away, but yet they're still doing it because they see it as, look, I used to be that person... Sometimes I don't think they even like that title. They're like, no, no, no. We're capitalists. We're here to make money."
Takeaway:
Embrace the dual motivation rather than fighting it.
The best angel investors understand that community impact and financial returns aren't mutually exclusive - they're often complementary. Don’t apologize for wanting to give back while ALSO stewarding financial resources well.
Want more? Check out my full conversation with Bill 👇
Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and more.
Until Next Week 👋
Thanks for reading - have a great week.
-Andrew
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, could you do me a quick favor? Hit the "like" button or leave a comment with your thoughts. It may not seem like much, but it really helps me out a ton.
How did I do this week? |