The Ritz Group
began very modestly as a small, informal networking group meeting most Thursday afternoons in the main lounge of the Ritz
Carlton Hotel in Buckhead by Whit Blakeley in October, 1984. Several years ago, Jim Munson also joined
as a co-host.
Eventually, at the request of
several early sponsors including SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Re/Max of Georgia, The Ritz Group was enlarged, moved upstairs
into a private meeting room, and attended principally by entrepreneurs, investors and consultants.
The Ritz Group meeting format has always been
“meet and greet”. Now starting in 2011, we are excited to have a few hand selected entrepreneurs present
during the course of the evening.
All participants are on an invitation
only basis, but individuals and companies requiring capital are continually invited until funded. We encourage and partner
with a number of investor resources to identify new entrepreneurs and new investors.
We are very pleased that on average about 5 to 8 participants receive
funding each year as a result of their attendance at Ritz Group meetings. Funding successes last year in
2010 included angel funding as low as $250,000 and as high as $22 million in funding for an early stage medical company. Previous
years, we have seen funding as a result of Ritz group attendance,from $1 million to $11 million dollars. In 2007,
we were notified by 6 attendees that they were successful in raising money from $865,000 in angel money to $14 million dollars
for an early stage software company's second round. In 2005, one participant obtained a $1.2 billion commitment
from a Chicago private equity group as a result of his attendance and networking at a Ritz Group meeting.
Our legacy continues into 2011. Also,
similar groups have formed in Boston and Las Vegas, modelled after our Atlanta group. We are continuing to identify
new foreign sources of funding for Georgia companies.
We thank everyone for allowing us to be a small part of
their big dreams!
Whit Blakeley
