New World Angels (NWA), Florida's premier structured angel investor group, announced today a $1,027,500 follow-on investment in Miami and Rhode Island based Clarke Industrial Engineering to fund Clarke's continued expansion of its patented Shutter Valve line. Invented by Kyle Daniels, Clarke's CEO and founder, the Shutter Valve is the first major innovation in 50 years in the $86 Billion valve industry. Industrial valves regulate flow and control in piping systems in power plants, oil and gas applications, food and beverage processing facilities, and play a critical role in a wide array of manufacturing processes. By creating a valve that works like a camera shutter, versus traditional gate, ball and butterfly valves, Clarke has redefined high performance valve criteria with better flow control, zero pressure drop and zero leakage.
Mr. Daniels commented, "We are grateful to the ongoing support of New World Angels as we build out our infrastructure to design and produce an expanding product line of valve sizes and performance specifications. We now have valves in several industries, including natural gas, water, power and paper. Combined with our recently announced license arrangement with Curtiss-Wright to expand the Shutter Valve into the defense and nuclear industries, this investment enables us to seize the opportunities before us and continue on our growth path."
NWA Treasurer and Clarke Board member Bob Williamson noted, "We have enjoyed helping Kyle Daniels grow the Shutter Valve from the patented idea with a business plan brought to us in 2014 to a dynamic growing company with corporate headquarters in Miami and engineering and production operations in Rhode Island. Kyle, his COO Mark Kacer and the whole Clarke team have done a wonderful job building an exciting enterprise from Kyle's original idea."
NWA President and Clarke Board member, Steve O'Hara added, "Our 65 members are excited to continue their support of Clarke and its Shutter Valve roll-out. This is our second follow-on investment in 2017 following our January investment in Tao Connect's expansion, another of our successful portfolio companies. With $1.5MM invested in the first quarter of 2017, NWA expects to continue this pace in the second quarter into both existing portfolio companies and new entities."
About New World Angels:
New World Angels (NWA) is a group of 65 accredited, private investors, operators and entrepreneurs dedicated to providing equity capital to early-stage entrepreneurial companies with a strong presence in Florida. Members of NWA have extensive experience in founding, building, and managing companies in a wide variety of industries. NWA members are involved in the entrepreneurial communities from Miami Beach to Palm Beach on Florida's east coast and from Naples to Tampa on Florida's west coast. Since 2014, NWA has invested $10MM in growing US and international companies that are either based in Florida or have a strong presence in the state. In addition to providing funding, NWA members make their expertise and resource networks available to portfolio companies to facilitate a company's growth.
About Clarke Industrial Engineering:
Clarke Industrial Engineering is the marketer and producer of Shutter Valve, a patented high performance valve which is the first valve in the world to simultaneously offer precision flow control, zero pressure drop and zero leakage. Introduced in 2014, the Shutter Valve now has blue chip customers in the gas, water, power, paper, and chemical industries and along with licensing partner Curtiss-Wright is entering the defense and nuclear industries. With sales, marketing and finance operations in Miami and with engineering, and operations in Rhode Island, Clarke has the team in place to service these industries and more.