Named after Tech Coast Angels’ inspiring co-founder, the annual award goes to most outstanding and innovative early stage company
May 18, 2016 – IRVINE, Calif. – Tech Coast Angels (TCA) today announced that the Angel Capital Association (ACA) had awarded the Luis Villalobos Award to Cognition Therapeutics at the annual ACA Summit last week in Philadelphia.
The award recognizes the single-most ingenious and innovative company that is financed by one of ACA’s member angel groups. It is the highest honor available for an early-stage company to receive from the Angel Capital Association, and honors Tech Coast Angels co-founder, Luis Villalobos. Mr. Villalobos was a leading light in the angel investment field, by educating and mentoring numerous entrepreneurs and making nearly 60 personal investments, prior to his death in 2009.
Members in all five of TCA’s networks, as well as TCA’s ACE Fund 1, have invested in Cognition Therapeutics. The company, based in Pittsburgh, focuses on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics targeting the toxic proteins that cause the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other human neuro-degenerative diseases.
“Of all of our TCA Portfolio companies, Cognition Therapeutics is one of the most responsible and transparent companies that our members have invested in,” said John Murphy, TCA’s deal lead for Cognition Therapeutics. “Their science has continuously advanced at a rapid and successful pace. They regularly update us on their progress, apprising us of Cognition’s status as well as the industry’s. Several times a year, every year, they host conference calls so that we stay current on how they are doing. They then follow up with face-to-face meetings with all our chapters. They are a prime example of what an Angel Syndicate investment should be, and to date all of their funding has been through Angel groups.”
Other winners of the Luis Villalobos Award include RetroSense Therapeutics (2015), EyeVerify (2014), TRX Systems (2013), AssureRx (2012), Quantum Dental Technoloiges (2011) and Modumental (2010-inaugural year for the award).