A venture capital club that has members in Richmond and Northern Virginia has made its fifth investment, and No. 6 is just around the corner.
New Dominion Angels, a group of investors who listen to pitches from capital-hungry startups, invested in November in SeniorLiving.net, a Vienna, Va.-based website that helps customers find housing options for senior citizens.
And according to Mike McGinley, a co-founder of New Dominion Angels, the group is about to close its sixth deal, investing in a company that uses computer technology to help with the e-discovery process in litigation.
SeniorLiving, which acts as a broker between senior care communities and families looking for care, garnered an unusually high amount of interest from NDA members, McGinley said.
“In a typical deal, about half our members pledge to join in. In this one, we had significantly more,” McGinley said, adding that a typical deal sees funding of about $200,000.
“We like this industry. The demographics are on their side, and we think of that as having a tailwind,” he said. (You can read more about McGinley and the club in an RBS story here.)
NDA was also attracted to SeniorLiving’s founder, Todd Walrath, who had previously built and sold an online company.
Walrath started the search engine marketing firm Leads.com. He sold it in 2006.
In 2008, he started SeniorLiving after he had to search for senior care for a family member and realized how difficult the process was.
“I thought it should take two or three days,” said Walrath. “But it took about six weeks because there really wasn’t any good site, and the communities themselves weren’t as prevalent on the Internet.”
Walrath already had the background in search engine marketing, so he found some investors and a business was born.
The new site has counselors who work with customers to find out their housing needs. Then the counselors recommend a handful of options. If one of those options works out, SeniorLiving gets paid a commission by the community.
“It’s less than a month’s rent, so it’s a good deal for [the community],” Walrath said.
Walrath added that an average month of rent for a senior living facility is about $3,500.
Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to Editor (at) richmondbizsense.com.
A venture capital club that has members in Richmond and Northern Virginia has made its fifth investment, and No. 6 is just around the corner.
New Dominion Angels, a group of investors who listen to pitches from capital-hungry startups, invested in November in SeniorLiving.net, a Vienna, Va.-based website that helps customers find housing options for senior citizens.
And according to Mike McGinley, a co-founder of New Dominion Angels, the group is about to close its sixth deal, investing in a company that uses computer technology to help with the e-discovery process in litigation.
SeniorLiving, which acts as a broker between senior care communities and families looking for care, garnered an unusually high amount of interest from NDA members, McGinley said.
“In a typical deal, about half our members pledge to join in. In this one, we had significantly more,” McGinley said, adding that a typical deal sees funding of about $200,000.
“We like this industry. The demographics are on their side, and we think of that as having a tailwind,” he said. (You can read more about McGinley and the club in an RBS story here.)
NDA was also attracted to SeniorLiving’s founder, Todd Walrath, who had previously built and sold an online company.
Walrath started the search engine marketing firm Leads.com. He sold it in 2006.
In 2008, he started SeniorLiving after he had to search for senior care for a family member and realized how difficult the process was.
“I thought it should take two or three days,” said Walrath. “But it took about six weeks because there really wasn’t any good site, and the communities themselves weren’t as prevalent on the Internet.”
Walrath already had the background in search engine marketing, so he found some investors and a business was born.
The new site has counselors who work with customers to find out their housing needs. Then the counselors recommend a handful of options. If one of those options works out, SeniorLiving gets paid a commission by the community.
“It’s less than a month’s rent, so it’s a good deal for [the community],” Walrath said.
Walrath added that an average month of rent for a senior living facility is about $3,500.
Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor. Please send news tips to Editor (at) richmondbizsense.com.