Angel Investors Help Jewish Business Owners

By Josh Tapper August 27, 2010

Jew Crew, Bangitout, JDate. Now, add Tribe of Angels to the list of Jewish social networking websites.

An online forum where Jewish investors “can share their interests and expertise with entrepreneurs and vice versa,” Tribe of Angels is the brainchild of Cleveland-based technology consultant Paul Allen, who launched the site in 2004. The site doesn’t yet have the power or breadth of non-denominational social networking sites, like Facebook or LinkedIn; there are only 6,000 members in the database, according to the Cleveland Jewish News.

While it’s far from an answer to the anti-Israel Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, Tribe of Angels links religiously- and politically-likeminded Jewish professionals with the goal of tightening the (already close-knit) Jewish technology and business worlds.

“I have a strong interest in Judaism, Jewish culture and religion, and Israel,” Allen said in an interview with the Cleveland Jewish News. “I wanted to see what would happen if I created a group that was really just for our people and see whether our shared values and character would help people to connect and work effectively together and whether that would be an advantage.”

Historically, the Jewish community has never had a problem laying groundwork in business and technology. Tribe of Angels, however, seems most useful for Jews in smaller commercial centers, like Cleveland.

Allens claims the site has connected thousands of Jewish professionals nationwide, with up to 300 successfully raising capital or finding jobs.

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