Not My First Guess

Fundraising as a Diverse Founder, with Guests Simi Lindgren, Nick Telson and Farah Kabir


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Recorded live from Sifted Summit, this episode unpacks the challenges of fundraising as a diverse founder, practical tips on fundraising, and what we can do at individual, organisational, and systems levels to fix inequities in the startup ecosystem.

Our incredible guests are:

  • Simi Lindgren is the founder of Yuty, tackling bias in AI to match customers based on ethnicity, skin type and medical condition to the best beauty products. They raised £500k in their pre-seed, making Simi just the 10th black female founder to gain VC backing in the UK. 
  • Nick Telson took his first startup, Design My Night, to exit with just £500k in Angel funding. Since the acquisition, he's angel invested himself, and has just raised £1.6m for his new startup Trumpet at Pre-seed, based on 1800 pre-launch signups.
  • Farah Kabir is the founder of Hanx, a sexual wellness and contraception company, busting the taboos on women buying intimacy products. They've raised £1.8m in angel funding.


Fundraising resources mentioned on the show

  • Checkout diversity focussed funds and collectives like: Ada Ventures, Google's Black Founder Fund and Latino Founder Fund, Pink Salt Ventures, Case for Her, Cornerstone VC, Proud Ventures,  
  • Fundraising resources via we are radikl
  • Advise on angel investing via Angel Investing School
  • Communities like DiversityX, IfWeRaise
  • Hold VCs and investors to account with the Glassdoor for VC's Landscape.vc
  • And listen to more fundraising tips on Nick's Podcast, Pitchdeck
...more
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Not My First GuessBy Hattie Willis