The Alliance of Angels has established a  $4.3 million "side car fund," a new vehicle designed to drive more angel investments in the state. Madrona Venture Group and Trilogy Equity Partners contributed about $1 million each to the new fund, which will match some investments that are moving through the Alliance of Angels' network.

"It is going to be fabulous," said Susannah Malarkey, executive director of the Technology Alliance, which oversees the Alliance of Angels. "What this allows us to do is double down on deals." The announcement was made today at the Technology Alliance's annual luncheon, which featured Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie.

The fund has a pretty simple structure. An entrepreneur who raised $100,000 from members of the Alliance of Angels would have the opportunity to pull in an additional $100,000 in matching dollars from the side car fund.

A three person committee -- made up of Madrona's Tim Porter, Trilogy's Peter van Oppen and angel investor Gaylord Kellogg -- will evaluate those opportunities and decide how much capital to allocate in each instance.

Seattle area angel investors who attended today's luncheon supported the idea, noting that it could help supercharge angel investing in the state. Last year, members of the Alliance of Angels invested $6.4 million in 36 companies.

"I think it will drive more money for the angel community," said Mark Mecham. "The idea is to get some critical mass there."

Voyager Capital's Geoff Entress, an angel investor in more than two dozen Seattle area companies and a participant in the new side car fund, said that the fund won't participate in every Alliance of Angel deal. And he noted that the structure allows for more capital to be deployed, leveraging the due diligence already conducted by the angels.

The $4.3 million fund is set to run for a couple of years, with Entress calling it a "great" way to support new companies. He doesn't think there will be complications in terms of angel investors putting less money to work, saying angels don't really think that way.

At the luncheon, the Technology Alliance also released results from a report that bench-marked the performance of the state's innovation economy.

The state got high marks in entrepreneurship and venture capital investment, with Washington ranking fifth in terms of dollars invested last year. In fact, that segment of the economy got recognition later in remarks from Ozzie who called the state's venture community "very solid."

However, the benchmark report showed much lower scores in higher education and state support of academic research. (The state ranked last of 10 peer states when it came PhDs awarded in science and engineering and 7th in high school graduation rates.)

And it is not just a problem in Washington state, with Technology Alliance Chair and Verdiem CEO Jeremy Jaech calling the poor rankings for science and math in the U.S. a "national tragedy."