Funding Pathways: SmartGateVC, The 10K Project, Mercury, Chisos Capital 💸
When it comes to money for startups, there's no shortage of options - from crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, equity funding models such as convertible debt, friends & family rounds, smaller VCs, grants and even angel investment networks. 💰 Join us for our funding pathways event series for a panel with industry leaders so you can find out which path is right for you! 🚀
This month's speakers:
Armine Galstyan is a Principal at SmartGateVC, a pre-seed, seed venture capital fund investing in deep tech companies with a primary focus on AI. As a Principal at the firm, she runs the U.S. operations and builds Hero House in Los Angeles - a technology hub and community of entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, and tech professionals. She has worked with 200+ idea/pre-seed stage Eastern European startups and helped many of the entrepreneurs to raise pre-seed funding.
Cheree Warrick is Co-Founder of The 10K Project – the largest community of Black investors who actively fund Black-owned businesses. As a business plan writer, Cheree has helped her clients raise millions of dollars. Her Black clients, unfortunately, were unable to raise money as easily as other communities. So she decided to do something about it by launching a community of individuals who invest as little as $100 into Black-owned businesses. Cheree is not only a full-time business plan writer but also author of the book – Creating Business Plans that Actually Get Financed - which helps business owners understand exactly what investors want to know before making a commitment.
Will Stringer is the co-founder and CEO of Chisos, an early stage alternative investment company utilizing a Convertible Income Share Agreement to invest at the earliest stages of business ideation and formation. Will is responsible for creation of the Convertible Income Share Agreement, development of the underwriting and diligence criteria, fundraising, financial planning and general operations of the company. Will is an angel investor and advisor to multiple early stage companies. Prior to Cockrell, Will was an Analyst in the Energy Investment Banking Group of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Shelley Golan is a bi-coastal serial founder, consultant, startup ecosystem builder and advisor with deep industry knowledge in FinTech, AgTech, EdTech, ClimateTech, Impact & ESG. As a Relationship Manager at Mercury, she connects founders of high growth startups with resources, opportunities and capital products like Venture Debt. A two-time nominee for Forbes 30-under-30, her work has been covered by The New York Times, Bloomberg, NowThis, TechBites, Fox Five News and The Times of Israel. Her core focus is on strategic partnerships, growth strategy, business development and innovation. Previously a Director of 4 Accelerators in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Tel Aviv, She helped launch and incubate over 60 early stage startups from seed to series A. Her mission: Build sustainable pathways to access between stakeholders across the startup ecosystem.