📣Newsletter Update | Your Angel Deals of the Week

Eardrum repair, blood transfusion tech, digital asset ops, and why water-cooled reactors are so darn common

Happy Thursday.

Here’s some big news, your angel deals of the week, some bookmarks I think you’ll enjoy, and the best nugget from my conversation with Dr. Chris Keefer.

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🔥Angel Deals of the Week

Angel funding rounds announced in recent weeks, compiled from public sources. These deals represent the elite few that survived an angel network’s vetting process. Note: I have not personally analyzed these companies and am sharing for informational purposes only.

🤝 Want more details on these companies or have an angel deal to share? Reply to this email - I’d be happy to connect you with the source angel group or feature your deal.

🤖Deal summaries generated using dealmemo.ai.

Tympanogen | Non-surgical eardrum repair

Participating Group: Cowtown Angels

Tympanogen is developing a gel patch that repairs perforated eardrums without surgery, anesthesia, or abrasion. Their innovative 10-minute procedure is gaining traction among ENT specialists as it disrupts traditional repair methods. Currently advancing through clinical trials with promising results, the company is progressing toward FDA submission and commercial launch, supported by recent investment from Cowtown Angels.

Elaine Horn-Ranney, Ph.D. | No Funding Details | Richmond, VA | March 2025 | Source

Delta Development Team | Portable blood transfusion

Participating Groups: Central Texas Angel Network, Desert Angels, Arizona Tech Investors

Delta Development Team (DDT) is developing prehospital blood management systems enabling on-scene transfusions for trauma patients. Their FDA-listed portable refrigerator maintains blood products for up to five days on a single battery charge—15 times longer than competitors—even in extreme conditions. With approximately 300 emergency vehicles equipped nationwide, DDT has generated nearly $5M in revenue while securing $5M in funding (including SBIR grants) with a recent Series A3 led by Central Texas Angel Network to accelerate production and launch new products in 2025.

Monti Leija | Series A3 | Austin, TX | February 6, 2025 | Source

Utila | Institutional digital asset operations platform

Participating Group: Gaingels

Utila is developing an institutional-grade platform for digital asset operations, currently securing $35 billion in transactions with hundreds of global clients. The company recently raised $18 million in Series A funding led by Nyca Partners, with participation from Wing VC, NFX, and others. Funds will support scaling global operations and expanding R&D for their MPC wallets as stablecoin transfers reach $27.6 trillion in 2024, exceeding Visa and Mastercard's combined volume. Utila processes over $8 billion in monthly transactions across its secure multi-chain wallet infrastructure.

Bentzi Rabi | $18M Series A | New York/Tel Aviv | March 19, 2025 | Source

🔖Bookmarks of the Week

  1. RIP Blogs 💀 | Elena Verna @Elena's Growth Scoop(link)

  2. A very good breakdown of the funding environment for marketplaces 🛒 | Colin Gardiner @Take Rate | Marketplaces (link)

  3. The Angel dream: small angel group lands an 88 bagger on Poppi acquisition 🤑 | Maria Armental @WSJ (link)

🥇The Nugget: My Top Takeaway from This Week’s Conversation with Dr. Chris Keefer

90+ percent of nuclear reactors are water-cooled for good reason: we've been managing steam and pressure vessels since the 1850s.

From Chris:

[Water cooled reactors] work very well because we've iterated them, not just since the beginning of nuclear. The management of pressure vessels and steam as a working fluid goes back to beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in the 1850s. And so there's been many lessons, many iterations that have occurred along the way.

Advanced “non-water” based reactors, which are getting a TON of attention in the media, are forced to abandon this accumulated wisdom, starting “fresh” from an engineering standpoint.

Be very cautious about the promise of advanced reactors - there’s a lot still to learn.

Want more? Check out my full conversation with Chris and don’t forget to pick up the Nuclear Energy Investing Playbook: An Angel’s Guide. 👇

🎙️Latest Podcast Episode

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.

Until Next Week👋

Thanks for reading - have a great week.

-Andrew

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About Me

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I'm a proud husband, grateful father, and honest friend. My love languages include brisket, bourbon, and a handwritten note.