A Wilmington angel investor group has entered into a partnership agreement with a similar early stage investor group based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Wilmington Investor Network LLC (WIN) and the First Angel Network Association (FAN) of Atlantic Canada have formalized their partnership, they announced in a news release last week.
 
The partnership is a first, according to the release, which stated, “Most major cities have organized networks of angel investors, but this alliance creates Canada’s first formalized partnership with a U.S.-based network of angel investors.”
 
“This partnership is exciting because it opens the door for shared deal flow between our accredited investors from Atlantic Canada and North Carolina,” Ross Finlay, co-founder and director of the First Angel Network, said in the release.
 
Deal flow – meaning access to attractive investment opportunities – is critical to angel networks. The reciprocal privileges of the FAN/ WIN alliance include private access to each other’s investment meetings and sharing insight into angel investment best practices, the release stated.
 
“Atlantic Canada has a lot of very interesting companies, so formalizing this partnership increases our ability to see well-vetted deals and share our networks,” Michael Cain, WIN’s managing member, said in the release. “Plus, if we have a deal we can bring up to Canada, that’s great too.”
 
WIN and FAN connected through Finlay and Cain. Finlay serves on the board of Angel  Resources Institute, which Cain chairs; Cain serves on the board of National Angel Capital Organization, which Finlay chairs, Cain explained in a telephone interview Tuesday.
 
“We’re both active angel investors; we decided to get together and share some deals,” Cain said. “There are a lot of tax incentives [for such investments] in Canada.”
 
Founded in 2004, WIN is a private equity fund of angel investors. The entity has invested “millions” in start-up companies, particularly in the areas of technology, biotechnology and medical devices, according to the release. In its current portfolio are 25 companies, based in eastern North and South Carolina as well as in California, Arizona and Massachusetts.
 
One of those early-stage companies is located in Wilmington, Cain said.
 
 FAN is a not-for-profit network formed to bridge the capital gap for young companies. Its 85 members have invested $10.5 million in companies since 2005, the release stated.
 
Officials of both networks believe that early-stage companies will benefit from increased exposure through the FAN/ WIN alliance.
 
“This alliance allows us to take extraordinary companies out of the Maritimes,” Finlay said in the release. “Companies will gain access to more potential funding to expand their markets. Select entrepreneurs will be pitching beyond the borders of their own region to the FAN/ WIN alliance, which helps ensure they are ready to compete internationally.”