Thinking of getting angel investors, but not sure where to start? Where should you look? What questions should you ask them? Firstly – let’s address the elephant in the room. What is an angel investor? Angel investors are individuals who invest in entrepreneurial ventures like startups using their own capital in exchange for equity. They often provide the startup founders with capital for their business, but they do not have any operational voting rights in the company. Angels can come from different backgrounds, such as venture capitalists, corporate investors, wealthy
Akash Mehta is a 28-year-old entrepreneur and influencer who recently made it onto Forbes’ ’30 under 30’ list in media and marketing. A digital expert, he has harnessed the power of social media to quickly build Fable & Mane, the haircare and wellness business of which he is the founder and CEO. Mehta left his job as a global digital manager at Dior to start his own haircare brand and now Fable and Mane have sold six figures’ worth of products in a week following viral TikTok posts. Mehta, who
Zaire Allen founded Love Circular, a digital academy for aspiring user experience and user interface designers, who build the visual and interactive components for apps and websites. The 25-year-old launched it in July 2020, two months after he was let go as a UX designer at a mortgage company during the pandemic. During the covid-19 pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people were either furloughed or fired – leaving some in limbo on how to make ends meet. But coronavirus, albeit an awful two years, was a life-changing period for some who
Amber Shand, a former junior Software Engineer at American Express currently working at Cybsafe as a front-end engineer and Jessie Auguste, a colleague and fellow engineer, sat down with POCIT to talk about their journey, the challenges, triumphs and more. When previously asked about what inspired her journey, Shand said in a blog post: “It all started in 2018; I was doing a Mergers and Acquisitions internship in Madrid. I had big ambitions about working at the Big 4 (PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte) once I had graduated but had
Doing it for the culture. Husband and wife duo Jermaine and Whaketa Hargrove plan to launch streaming animation network, Animation TV, later this year and it’s set to offer a range of exclusive content. A subscription and linear channel model will also be available for ease of access to viewers. Animation TV will also work in collaboration with Small Town Animation Studios to deliver original, exclusive animation content. This includes the highly anticipated diabetic superhero movie Gumshe: The Type 1 Protector, or faith-based series The Sunday Schoolers, and other originals like Animate My Life, Welcome to
America is in the midst of a Black maternal health crisis, and according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, Black women in America are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, a disparity the CDC attributes to factors including underlying chronic conditions, structural racism, and implicit bias. There is a damning body of research showing how Black women and birthing people go unseen and unheard as they navigate the healthcare system with celebrities like Beyoncé and Serena Williams bringing attention to the risks of childbirth
Black tech entrepreneur Bill Spruill reportedly turned his employees into millionaires when he sold his startup Global Data Consortium for an undisclosed amount. Global Data, which he launched make in 2012, makes software that verifies the identity of people behind online transactions, an important step in eliminating potential fraud. Though financial details have not yet been revealed, Spruill described the deal to Axios as a “Bronto-level transaction,” which was acquired by NetSuite for $200 million in 2015. When Spruill started the Global Data Consortium he only raised $5 million from investors – this is rather
Influencer marketing agency Fanbytes has been acquired by digital media agency Brainlabs for an undisclosed fee. The UK-based 65-strong business was launched by its chief executive Timothy Armoo, chief operating officer Ambrose Cooke and chief technology officer Mitchell Fasanya in 2017. Fanbytes now works with a client list that spans Samsung, Nike, Ubisoft, Mattel, Estée Lauder and H&M. The agency also formed a talent management business dubbed Bytesized Talent. Now, it represents some of the biggest creators in the UK like EmandLoz (fashion and entertainment), and Mr Tov (comedy, lifestyle
Norebase, the trade technology company building a single platform for businesses to start, scale and operate in any African country, has secured a $1M pre-seed funding round. The company is laser-focused on building two-pronged platforms that offer African and non-African businesses access to the African continent as one big market while creating a channel where African founders can access the international markets (such as the USA). Using Norebase, established companies can expand to new locations while new businesses can be incorporated in any African country of their choice in just a
In the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, the 300 visionaries featured on the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list have persevered, innovating and collectively raising more than $2 billion in funding for their ventures—more than double the amount raised by last year’s honorees. Aasiyah Abdulsalam, Ngoni Chikwenengere, Agnus Mwakatuma, Josephine Phillips, Malone Mukwende, and Nigel Matombo were just some of the Black people featured on this year’s list for their amazing work across tech, fashion and mental health. Aasiyah Abdulsalam Aasiyah Abdulsalam is the 26-year-old founder of The Renatural, a brand offering innovative products
