Tamiami Angel Funds Invests in Climate Tech Firm
NAPLES, Fla., — Angel investors from the Tamiami Family of Angel Funds invested $200,000 in Kind Designs, a Florida-based climate-tech company that manufactures environmentally friendly Living Seawalls to protect coastal communities from rising sea levels.
“This is the most Florida-themed investment in all of our portfolios,” says Timothy Cartwright, partner of Fifth Avenue Family Office and chairman of Tamiami Angel Funds in Naples.
Miami Beach-based Kind Designs uses 3D-printing technology to print seawalls that mimic coral reefs and mangroves, hosting biodiversity and improving water quality. The company’s Living Seawalls are reinforced with recycled ocean plastic fibers and contain embedded water-quality sensors to create a global network of water data.
Cartwright says he was impressed by Kind Designs’ investor presentation when he served as a judge at the 2023 Aerospace + Emerging Tech Forum’s pitch competition this summer hosted by the Florida Venture Forum and Space Florida in Melbourne. The company won first place and $40,000 in the pitch competition.
Cartwright says Kind Designs is benefiting from government mandates to raise seawalls, the need for environmentally friendly building materials in marine construction and the competitive edge of lower production costs that 3-D printing technology can deliver. “This company has a solid business thesis plus the benefit is they’re helping the environment,” he says.
“Meeting Tamiami Angel Funds through Tim Cartwright, a judge at the Space Florida pitch competition in Melbourne, was a pivotal moment for Kind Designs,” says Kind Designs Founder and CEO Anya Freeman. “We took home first place and were propelled into our pursuit of protecting coastal cities with Living Seawalls.”
“I was so impressed with Anya’s energy and the vision that we wanted to pursue an investment in the company,” says Cartwright. “She has a law degree, which helps her approach things with a rational viewpoint because it’s very easy to get swept up in the emotions and the environmental cause and lose sight of the business.”
“The Tamiami Angels were the first to meet our 3-D printing robot, Noah, upon its Miami arrival,” notes Freeman. “Their hands-on, supportive approach has made working with them a joy for our team and we’re thrilled to continue the relationship with this latest investment.”
Naples-based Tamiami Angel Funds are member-managed funds that allow high-net-worth individuals and families to invest in promising early stage and expansion-stage companies located in the U.S., with a preference to those in the state of Florida. For more information about Tamiami Angel Funds, visit www.tamiamiangels.com. For more information about Kind Designs, visit www.kinddesigns.com.
About Tamiami Angel Funds
Tamiami Angel Fund I, Tamiami Angel Fund II, Tamiami Angel Fund III and Tamiami Angel Fund IV are member-managed funds that allow high-net-worth individuals and families to invest in promising early stage and expansion-stage companies located in the U.S., with a preference to those in the state of Florida. Fifth Avenue Family Office, the administrator of the angel funds, caters their multi-family office services to high-net-worth entrepreneurs and their families. The funds are members of the Angel Capital Association and the Florida Venture Forum. For more information, visit www.tamiamiangels.com.
About Kind Designs
Empowering nature with technology, Kind Designs is a climate-tech startup that’s addressing rising sea-levels by revolutionizing the outdated and traditionally toxic seawall construction industry. Through its use of innovative, eco-friendly materials, and patent-pending 3D printing technology, Kind Designs is producing the world’s first 3D-printed Living Seawalls™️. The Living Seawalls protect coastal communities from floods and storm surges, while creating marine habitats, sequestering carbon and collecting essential water quality data. For more information on Kind Designs and to get an estimate for your seawall project, visit www.kinddesigns.com.