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Since 1997 the New York New Media Association's Angel Investors Program has stepped in to fill the gap left by venture capitalists that are leery to invest in start-ups or have their hands full with floundering dot-coms.

Yesterday, the program announced it had funded 30 early stage Alley companies with over $10 million in seed funding. The companies include content, hardware, software and ASP business models. One of the largest fundings went to Virtual Growth, an Alley company that provides outsourced licensed accounting services.

Ben Goodman, the manager of the Angel Investors Program, said Virtual Growth has excelled using the $1 million investment from angel investors to bump-up its employee base to 150 people, among other things. Goodman was most excited by the company's growth, something many companies fail to do in these tough funding times.

Virtual Growth has raised a significant amount of capital from Bessemer Venture Partners, City Group Investments, Chelsea Capital Partners and StarVest Partners, all contributing funding that amounts to a total of $23 million to date.

In return, the angel program receives both tangible and intangible rewards. Alice Rodd O'Rourke, the executive director of NYNMA, said the program allows NYNMA to serve the industry, which has lagged behind Silicon Valley in terms of holding on to savvy media players who are proficient and educated about current plays including broadband, wireless and telecommunication.

The program is supported by angel membership fees of $1,500 a year. Of the 60 angels currently serving in the program, about a third have been with it learning about the Alley and the current market conditions, since its inception. Most of the angels are from the financial and business world and a substantial amount have been entreprenuers themselves.

The program is also supported by sponsors, including Sun Microsystems, through its resellers, with companies like Nexl, Interactive Futures and the Ergonomic Group, who are resellers of Sun's products. Each company is headquartered in New York.

O'Roarke said the program first launched because while venture capital was available in the early days of 1997, companies were unable to find funding without an angel round. It took some time, however, until the angels were versed in both technology and Alley protocol to make sound decisions.

"It took a full six months until people pulled together and became knowledgable to put money behind companies. There was a learing curve from the last part of 1997 into the beginning of 98," she said.

"They were professionals or successful finance business people with an interest or money to invest, but they may have made money in old media and they still had to learn (about new media)."

The group held monthly meetings, where they reviewed about 50 potential investments, of which two finalists were chosen.

The group's angels include a number of high profile members of the investment and new media industries, including Alan Patricof, founder, Patricof & Co. Ventures, Inc. and Tom Phillips, CEO, Deja.com, former president of ESPN Internet and founder of Spy Magazine.