TCA Venture Group is the leading source of funding to early-stage companies in Southern California. In 2023, TCA had about 400 members. In August 2014, an analysis by CB Insights ranked TCA No.1 out of 370 angel groups on “Network Centrality” and No. 5 overall in “Investor Mosaic.”

History

Tech Coast Angels - now (as at March 2024) called TCA Venture Group - was founded in 1997 by Luis Villalobos. TCA members provide companies capital, counsel, mentoring and access to a network of potential investors and partners. TCA has chapters located in Los Angeles, Orange County, and the Inland Empire. In addition, Pasadena Angels and MEDA Angels are networks within TCA Venture Group. In 2020, TCA invested $20 million in 64 companies. Furthermore, TCA had invested about $15.4 million in a total of 41 companies in 2022, as noted in its 2022 Annual Report and total investments have exceeded $10 million for twelve years. While there were also 10 shutdowns, 21 of them of the 41 companies receiving funding were new additions to TCA's portfolio, representing 72% of investments, compared to 48% in 2021. In January 2024, Tech Coast Angels renamed itself TCA Venture Group, to reflect that its investments are much broader than just technology and that over 50% of its recent investments have been outside Southern California.

Company exits

TCA has had eleven IPOs and over 106 exits in total. Four of those (Procore, Mindbody, Greendot and Sandpiper Networks) achieved multiples between 149x and 368x. TCA's successful exits include: In addition to the 106 exits, 141 companies in the portfolio were shutdowns with no returns. Based on all outcomes to date, TCA's portfolio has returned 6.4 times invested capital, and achieved an IRR of 25% on its portfolio.

Investment portfolio

The TCA investment portfolio page lists investments in general categories such as Life Sciences, Internet and Apps, Software, Consumer, CleanTech and Industrials, Hardware, Financial, and Business. Active portfolio companies include: