Drones have been consumer products for years, but entrepreneurs are now finding their commercial potential. New ideas are coming fast, and few are as ambitious as SkyFire. In this New York Angels edition of The Angel Nest, we meet Don Mathis, a former Navy flight officer who watched drones change the course of modern warfare in Ukraine and decided it was time to build something bigger at home. SkyFire is a platform that deploys sophisticated Level 2 drones to enhance public safety, streamline business logistics, support national defense, and even deliver medicine to patients who need it most. Joining Don are Bob Peck and Alyssa Tam, New York Angels members who co-led SkyFire’s seed investment round. They’ll share what drew them to the company out of a crowded drone market, how the NYA Sidecar Fund helped amplify the investment, and why SkyFire has more levers to pull than most startups they see. We’ll also talk AI, international ambitions, and what the next year holds for one of the most versatile companies in the portfolio. Learn more about SkyFire and see who the New York Angels are partnering with at newyorkangels.com.

And, listen to more great interviews from our series with the New York Angels at https://theangelnest.com.

How are investors going to get ROI, from AI? We hear a lot about the investment in artificial intelligence. But the New York Angels are working hard to find investible companies where artificial intelligence will yield real profits. In this episode, we meet Eric Tao, the founder of Mega Minds and Josh Powe, a New York Angels member and angel investor in Mega Minds. They’re using AI to scale their experiential learning model and testing it in real-world K-12 settings. By blending the game-like appeal of platforms like Roblox with sophisticated AI characters, Mega Minds creates a "non-judgmental safe space" for students to practice academics through productive struggle. This approach lowers the "affective filter" that often inhibits struggling learners, allowing them to build confidence while failing and trying again in a low-stakes virtual world. For educators, the platform acts as a real-time force multiplier. While students engage with AI avatars, a separate backend agent translates performance into actionable insights, highlighting learning gaps in as little as 30 seconds. Eric shares compelling results from a recent study where 67% of participating students reached grade-level proficiency in just 10 weeks—nearly triple the rate of the control group. This feedback loop allows teachers to shift their focus from grading to the high-value, one-on-one instruction students need most. Josh Powe joins the conversation to explain why Mega Minds is a "killer app" for investors. Beyond early RFP wins, the platform is building a significant data moat by capturing granular, individualized learning data and sentiment analysis. As school districts demand scalable solutions that provide transparency while keeping teachers in the loop, Mega Minds is leading the shift toward a unified, data-driven instructional model that was previously impossible to achieve at scale. Learn more about the Mega Minds AI learning platform at gomegaminds.com and see who the New York Angels are partnering with at newyorkangels.com.

Catch up on the rest of the New York Angels series on theangelnest.com.

When David Steinberger decided to start a creator-friendly comics brand, he hoped to partner with angel investors who could help. On this special New York Angels edition of the Angel Nest, you'll learn how that initial partnership spawned not one successful company, but two. Today, we meet Dytslry and its founder David Steinberger, whose independent next-generation comic book publishing company has found early success by partnering with A-list creators to make unique digital innovations and turn that into a digital retail powerhouse for all comics. New York Angel Kit McQuiston led the seed round for Dytslry, but it wasn't their first collaboration. We'll also speak with New York Angels member Ed Levine and Helge Seetzen about a partnership they forged between the New York Angels and Tandem Launch, a group in Canada that backs high-tech startups with big opportunities, but often lower valuations that we see in New York. Check out some very cool comics at dstlry.co, learn more about Tandem Launch, and see who the New York Angels are partnering with at newyorkangels.com. Be sure to also revisit the Angel Nest archives for more great conversations with founders and angel investors.