Calling the last week of April the "best in the 10-year history of the investor group," Cincinnati-based Queen City Angels announced the successful exits of two portfolio companies.
In an April 25 news release,
Queen City Angels (QCA) noted the sale of
Blue Ash Therapeutics' technology to Forest Laboratories and Healthcare Waste Solutions' acquisition by Stericycle.
As an investor of both angel capital and
Third Frontier funds, Queen City says "QCA received significant returns" on the transactions.
Last year, QCA and its affiliated QCA First Fund III invested in Blue Ash Therapeutics, along with
CincyTech, several individual investors and an east coast investment fund. A little over a year later, Blue Ash has now sold its key technology, Azimilide anti-arrhythmia drug, to New York-based Forest Laboratories, providing QCA with a return of almost 10 times its investment. The news release says QCA was the largest local investor and contributed more than $380,000.
Healthcare Waste Solutions has a national presence in the medical waste disposal business with plants in more than 15 metropolitan areas, QCA says. Stericycle, a Lake Forest, Ill.-based company in the same industry, acquired Healthcare Waste for $237 million.
"We firmly believe that Cincinnati is a great place to invest, and this successful outcome further validates our efforts," says Tony Shipley, QCA's chairman, in the release. "Our group has been actively funding startup companies since 2000, and we continued to pursue deals through the recessions of 2001 and 2008 with the belief that the long-term prospects of Cincinnati startups are outstanding. The real credit for these successes goes to the hard working entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risks of creating start-up ventures.
Source: Queen City Angels