John May is the Managing Partner of the New Vantage Group,[1] which has organized five angel investing organizations in the Washington, D.C. area since 1999, placing funds into more than 50 companies.
May is the co-author of two books on angel investing, Every Business Needs an Angel[2] and State of the Art: An Executive Briefing on Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing.[3] May is Chair-Emeritus of the Angel Capital Association and Co-Chairman of the World Business Angel Association.[4] He is a lead instructor for the "Power of Angel Investing" seminar produced by the Angel Capital Education Foundation and supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Batten Fellow at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and a Managing Director of Seraphim,[5] a UK-based venture capital fund. May served on the board of directors of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, the trade association for the venture capital industry in the Mid-Atlantic region.[6]
May began his work in angel investing when he co-founded the Investors' Circle,[7] a network of over 200 investors who use private capital to fund businesses that address social and environmental issues. May co-founded The Dinner Club,[8] an investment group of 60 Washington, D.C. angels who collectively invest in regional early stage ventures. A larger private investor pool, the eMedia Club[9] with 75 members, followed it, and in 2000, the Washington Dinner Club[10] with 75 members was started. In 2003, May started Active Angel Investors[11] fund and in 2008 he created D’ArchAngels[12] a group of accredited investors in the Mid-Atlantic region with significant expertise in the intelligence and defense industries.[13]
Washingtonian Magazine named May one of its 100 Tech Titans of DC.[14] At the Angel Capital Association Summit in San Francisco, CA on May 6, 2010, May was awarded the 2010 Hans Severiens Award for the contributions to the angel investing industry.