Tucsonβs Desert Angels, a group of individual βangelβ investors, ranked as the third most-active angel group in the nation for 2014 with nearly $7 million in investments, according to the Angel Resource Institute.
The Desert Angels rose from a number eight position in 2013, and ranked above angel groups in California, Texas and New York, according to the instituteβs Halo Report.
The Desert Angels has 98 members and focuses much of its funding activity on early-stage technology and life sciences companies in Arizona, the group said in a news release.
Angel investors, affluent individuals who are qualified to make private-equity investments by their wealth, typically invest individually though they vet prospective investments as a group.
In total, the members of the Desert Angels invested more than $6.8 million in 32 different companies in 2014, the largest total since the groupβs inception in 2000, and up more than 25 percent from 2013.
The Desert Angels have invested nearly $25 million dollars in the last five years with entrepreneurs and companies in fields including life sciences, mobile apps, software, optics and clean-energy technology.
