We thought today for our interview, that we'd get an update on the angel investment environment here in Southern California from Scott Sangster , the incoming President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Tech Coast Angels , the biggest angel investment group in Southern California. Scott sat down with us last week and gave us some hints and tips about finding angel investment nowadays, and how the economy has affected local angel investors. It It seems that the economy hit angel investors pretty badly over the last couple of years, along

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 -- Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch. Over the years, Tech Coast Angels and several venture capital firms have funded many companies that have been Fast Pitch participants. Since its inception in 1997, Tech Coast Angels has provided more than $104 million to more than 160 companies, and attracted more than $1 billion from co-investors. Our Fast Pitch Competitions are "the" place for Southern California entrepreneurs to present their ideas to investors. Each competition consists of 10-12 entrepreneurs

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 -- The Tech Coast Angels 5th Annual Fast Pitch Competition will take place on February 24th at UCLA Anderson School of Management. CEOs of 12 early stage companies, selected from more than 100 applicants, will have 90 seconds to pitch their companies to a panel of judges.The event will also include a keynote presentation by Steve Streit, CEO of TCA-funded Green Dot, a panel of CEOs discussing their funding war stories and angels and venture capitalists providing tips on how to get early stage funding. Dinner and refreshments will be served after the program at a networking event attended by hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs and other industry experts.

Los Angeles-based Mobile-XL , the international mobile information services firm backed by the Tech Coast Angels, said this week that it has linked a deal with Oberthur Technologies to include its XLBrowser Content Platform on Oberthur's line of SIM cards. Tags: mobile-xl mobilexl mobile information tech coast angels oberthu Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. The firms said that including Mobile-XL's software on its SIM cards will give Oberthur's customers access to new, sports, yellow pages, education, and other content.

Green Dot is venture backed by Sequoia Capital, TTP Fund, as well as a significant number of Tech Coast Angels. Tags: green financial prepaid merger acquisition tech coast angel Monrovia-based Green Dot , a provider of pre-paid VISA and Mastercard cards, has filed for an IPO, saying this morning that it is looking to raise up to $150M in an IPO on the NYSE. The firm's IPO is being undewritten by J.P.

The Tech Coast Angels is stressing its mixer program, seed investment efforts, and a new website, as it kicks off a 2010 program, according to the angel investing group. According to the Tech Coast Angels' Richard Sudek, Chairman of the TCA, the group is looking to hold bi-monthly mixers which will help entrepreneurs connect with its angel investors, after a successful mixer in late 2009. The group also said it is focusing on its SeedTrack program, which is specifically focused on seed stage funding and extensive mentoring. The angel

A new endowed fellowship fund, which will be awarded to a graduate MBA student at the Paul Merage School of Business at University of California, Irvine, has been established to honor the Tech Coast Angels' Luis Villalobos. According to the Tech Coast Angels, the new fellowship--the Luis Villalobos Endowed Fellowship in Entrepreneurship--will be awarded to a student with an interest in entrepreneurship and/or starting or being part of a new business. Villalobos, founder of the Tech Coast Angels, passed away on October first. The Tech

The Tech Coast Angels said today that the angel group invested in seven new deals, and seventeen follow-on deals in 2009, a total of $4.7M The group said that as part of those deals, its portfolio companies raised an additional $57M in funding from venture capital groups and other angel investors. The group--the largest angel group in Southern California, and one of the largest nationwide--said in investments. Last year, the TCA said it invested in 15 first-time fundings in firms, and 16 follow-on funding rounds.

The annual Tech Coast Angels Fast Pitch for Los Angeles is coming up next week, on Wednesday, and I’ll be moderating a panel during the event. The event–if you haven’t attended before–lets a group of 12 early stage companies pitch their companies to the audience. The pitch has to fit into 90 seconds, and is always entertaining to watch and learn from.

There is no cost but you must physically be based in or move to Los Angeles for the 6 months of the program.  Applications Applications are due April 6th, 2010, the form is on the website and the Twitter address is @launchpadlad Encourage the most successful LA tech entrepreneurs who had previously started companies to get involved as mentors, instructors or just informal advisors Today we  announced Launchpad LA V2 . Full press release with more details is here .  We