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Since 1984.....

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."

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.

June 2012 the Ritz Group was sold by Whit Blakely to Larry White, founder of Retail Electronic Visions, a developer of branded vertical market social media platforms. The "new" Ritz Group added the "Electronic Ritz" to the traditional monthly networking meeting. Electronic Ritz consisted of a member exclusive Capital Community and an Electronic Trade Show - called the Capital Expo. The goal was to extend the physical meetings and also include other Georgia based organizations devoted to raising private equity capital for new businesses.

We thank everyone for allowing us to be a small part of their big dreams! ..

Whit Blakeley - Founder and Larry White - President and CEO

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