10th Anniversary Key Events Recap
May 8, 2018
Author: Dennis Ensing
May 2006
First investment: Scisence 16 London Investors
July 2007
Second investment: Scisense London Investors
August 2007
Formal Invite to London Investors to establish angel investing group
March 12, 2008
Letters Patent granted for “Southwestern Ontario Angel Group”
March 20, 2008
Board of Directors established with Hank Vander Laan and Dennis Ensing, appointed as Co-Chairs
Carmen Gicante appointed as Executive Director
March 26, 2008
Inaugural Meeting of members
April 2008
SWO Angels approved under Angel Network Program (now Angel Investors Ontario)
September 2008
SWO Angels becomes member of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO)
June 2009
$1 million invested by SWO Angels members – three rounds in Scisense
June 2009
First investment post-formation: VanRX
February 2010
Peter Day appointed as Board Chair
June 2011
First exit: Scisense merged with Transonic Systems Inc.
September 2012
$5 million invested by SWO Angels members in 11 companies
March 2013
Second exit: Magor Communications Corp. listed on TSX-V
August 2014
SWO Angels formally establishes Windsor chapter, “Windsor Essex Capital Angel Network” (WECAN)
December 2014
$10 million invested by SWO Angels members in 15 companies
January 2015
John Pollock appointed as Executive Director
April 2015
Carmen Gicante appointed as Board Chair
September 2015
$400 annual membership fee introduced
January 2016
$25 million, including leverage from non-members, invested in 20 companies
March 2016
First venture with $4 million invested by SWO Angels members (VanRX)
January 2017
Dennis Ensing appointed CEO
March 2017
45 members
November 2017
Gord Hart appointed as Board Chair
March 2018
Launched simultaneous syndication pilot with Golden Triangle Angel Network (GTAN) (Kitchener/Waterloo) and Angel One Investor Network (Burlington)
Total invested
$19.5 million in 28 companies, leveraged into additional non-member investment of $32.5 million