San Antonio investor group Alamo Angels marked a new chapter in its brief history Wednesday as it announced a new leader at its helm.
Cat Dizon becomes the fledgling organization’s second executive director replacing founding executive director Chris Burney. Dizon served as a partner and chief operating officer at Active Capital, a San Antonio venture firm geared toward early investment in business-to-business software companies. She will stay on with Active Capital in a part-time role. Dizon also spent 11 years at Rackspace in mergers and acquisitions.
Angel investors are benefactors who provide capital to startup businesses, typically in exchange for a stake in the company or a debt security.
Alamo Angels was founded as the San Antonio Angel Network in September 2016 and rebranded in December 2017. In all, Alamo Angels has provided more than $2 million in funding to 12 ventures, including local startups Parlevel, Progenerative Medical, Dauber, Funnel AI, and HelpSocial.
Dizon said her charge will be to continue building relationships between the angel investor network and entrepreneurs.
“I see [investors in the Alamo Angels network] share my deep passion to find the right talent and … help them grow,” Dizon said. “The chemistry and culture of the network is what drew me to this role because there’s a lot of shared value. It’s an exciting time to be in San Antonio and to be an investor.”
One of the network’s most recent investments was in Cliently, a then-South Carolina-based sales automation platform. After pitching its business to Alamo Angels and seeing the support available in the city, the startup decided to move to San Antonio, Dizon said.
“It’s not a requirement to move here, but the fact that we have that draw … speaks volumes and says we’re on the right track,” she said.
The new executive director said she will place an emphasis on growing the investor network’s female representation.
Burney will continue in his role as an Alamo Angels board member and will focus on its syndicate program, a $1.2 million fund for investments structured differently than the network’s individual investments.
Dizon said San Antonio and other Texas cities are seeing a burst of startup activity.
“In last three or five years I don’t even recognize landscape, but it’s exciting,” Dizon said. “We have such amazing talent, and I think we’re finally realizing we need to invest locally. We’re having great success stories.”
