The eight-year-old group also is close to closing a third deal, with a local manufacturing firm, that will make this year one of the most active periods of investment the Queen City Angels have had, said Chairman Tony Shipley.

After the latest spurt of deals is completed, the angels will have four new investments and five follow-on investments. Those nine deals compare to the group’s 19 last year and 13 in 2006. While this year’s activity is far behind last year’s, the group’s investments have picked up lately. It has done two new deals in the past two months and is about to complete a third.

It seems to fly in the face of the dire talk about limited capital availability, but Shipley understands why these days are so active.