Stateline Angels Invests in Atometric, Inc. Series A Round
Contact: DeWayne Fellows
Stateline Angels
(815) 262.5317
defellow@aol.com
Contact: Mary Jane Grinstead
MJC, Inc.
773.525.1174
mjgrin@pipeline.com
Contact: Thomas N. Lindem
Atometric, Inc.
815.986.7352
tnl@atometric.com
For Immediate Release
January 3, 2008
Stateline Angels Invests in Atometric, Inc. Series A Round
Office friendly and factory rugged micro-machines make ultra precision parts on site
Rockford, IL - January 3, 2008 - Stateline Angels (SLA), an angel investor organization based in Rockford, IL, has invested nearly $450,000 in Atometric, Inc. also of Rockford. Led by Founder and CEO Thomas J. Lindem and President Thomas N. Lindem, a father and son team, Atometric develops and produces production-ready, micron-precision, micro-machines that can operate in both laboratories and factories to produce parts as small as the head of a pin.
Before Atometric’s machines, companies pursing miniaturization could purchase either a large production machine that had to be installed on the factory floor or a desk top machine that was suitable for research but not practical for machining production parts.
“Solving that problem is at the heart of our business,” says Tom N. Lindem. “Researchers can use our machine in the laboratory-it draws about the same power as a plasma TV and plugs into a regular 110 volt AC outlet. It is also a serious factory machine.”
Micro-machining is in a fairly early stage so Lindem expects that the next wave of Atometric machines will go mostly into laboratories and R&D facilities of companies developing products. “Both my father and I are traditional machine tool people,” he says, “and we didn’t want to build just a lab machine. With our machines, a company can perfect their prototype plastic or metal parts, and then once they are ready for production they can use the same machine to mill or drill thousands of production parts.”
Micro-machining and the related field of nanotechnology are huge and growing markets, and Atometric presented all the characteristics that Stateline Angels is looking for in an early stage portfolio company.
“Stateline Angels is member-managed organization of about 30 successful business executives, attorneys, physicians, and entrepreneurs from the Rockford area, but most of our members come from manufacturing backgrounds,” says Dale Falconer, president of Stateline Angels. “There isn’t much about manufacturing that among us we don’t already know so we approached our investment in Atometric from a hard business point of view. We know and have strong confidence in the company leadership and after reviewing the technical aspects we concluded that the product is very good.”
Members of Stateline Angels are accredited investors and invest as individuals in an LLC that becomes the shareholder in their portfolio companies. “A typical investment from us would be in the $100,000 to $300,000 range,” Falconer says, “but our members recognized that Atometric offers a solution that is seriously needed and particularly unique.”
Prior to Stateline Angels’ investment, the Lindems, through their own expertise and financial resources, advanced the business to the point where they had sold machines to early adopters and generated significant industry interest.
“This capital will allow us to step up our sales focus and add core positions in engineering and marketing,” Lindem the younger says. “We will also be able to establish minimal inventory that allows us to improve our order-to-ship lead time significantly.”
Since 2004 when Stateline Angels formed, members have invested in six companies; in addition to Atometric, three of those investments were made in the last year. It took time and effort to build awareness and momentum, but now the group is receiving strong deal flow from a variety of sources. The angels meet monthly to review new deals.
“We have created a state-of-the-art website, and we are networking with regional organizations such as the Illinois Technology Development Alliance and the Illinois Business and Investors Forum,” says DeWayne Fellows, vice president of Stateline Angels. “We have also joined the Wisconsin Angel Network and are collaborating with other angel groups in our region. As a result of the increased exposure, we have seen a significant increase in the number of deals that we have the opportunity to review. During the past year we have looked at start-up companies in the manufacturing, biotechnology, medical and information technology fields.”
Stateline Angels’ portfolio companies include a firm that manufactures equipment to produce and bag ice; a business that has an innovative way of making reflective films, and a software company that has developed a medical imaging product. None of the group’s portfolio companies has made an exit yet.
“Our investment in a local company such as Atometric will have a positive economic effect on the local region, and that is one of the primary reasons that the SLA was created,” says Falconer. “In a year or so this company is likely to employ a dozen people working at a skilled technical wage.”
About Stateline Angels
Founded in 2004, Stateline Angels is a self-managed angel investment group of accredited investors that provides capital to early-stage companies. Group founders and members are successful business executives, service professionals, and entrepreneurs in the greater Rockford, IL area who have significant operational expertise in a variety of industries and businesses. Members have dedicated themselves to fostering growth in the Stateline area by assisting individuals to create successful businesses. www.statelineangels.com
About Atometric, Inc.
Atometric, Inc. develops and manufacturers micro-milling, metal cutting machines. The company was incorporated in 2003 and is located in EIGERlab, a technology incubator in Rockford, IL. Atometric fills an un-serviced need-the ability to make ultra precision metal parts at the locations where the parts are required in the shortest period of time. Atometric machines can be located away from factories in offices and laboratories with 110 VAC current and an air supply. Atometric also offers contract programming and parts manufacturing services. www.atometric.com