Tech Trends: NJEDA hosts successful Founders & Funders event after pandemic hiatus – ROI-NJ.com
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority Founders & Funders event recently brought together some 35 startup founders and 27 angels and venture capitalists who invest in New Jersey companies. Most founders had several meetings scheduled with investors, each lasting 10 minutes.
NJTechWeekly. com has been following Creators & Funders events for a number of years. During these events, we talk to startup creators about their companies plus ask them about their own meetings along with investors. For the most part, the founders are pleased with their access to investors and with the investors’ willingness to give advice and connect all of them with their particular networks.
Here are profiles of some associated with the entrepreneurs who took part. This is the latest part of a series.
We’ve been following Anthony Frasier, CEO of ABF Creative , based in Newark, and his career since he was the organizer of Brick City Technology Meetup plus Startup Newark in 2012, in a quest to generate a Newark startup ecosystem. His newest startup, the 3-year-old ABF Creative, is a multicultural podcast network and production company, Frasier told us.
“What we do is all of us fill the particular void of the lack of diverse content in the podcast space, ” he said.
Frasier came to Founders & Funders “to connect with some investors that can help us to juice up our original content creation capabilities. We are looking in order to raise about $1 million, and we already have about 50% of that committed. ”
The podcasting network already has a number of great partners, including ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s, located in South Burlington, Vermont; the podcast network Wondery, based in West Hollywood, California; the Newark-based audio book creator Audible; and many others.
“But, now, we want ABF to be focused on a lot of original content material, ” he said. “That way, we can hire a sales team to advertise against our inventory that we’ll be building up. Also, we’ll be able to license and create multichannel opportunities for ourselves for articles and intellectual property that we control, wholly 100%. We can only do that if we all have the staff to do that, plus the money to do it as well. So that’s the reason why we want to connect with as many traders as possible. ”
We caught up along with Frasier after he experienced met with seven investors, and he stated the conferences went well, and that everyone liked the company’s podcasts and the energy that Frasier brings to the table.
“We saw people who were a perfect match, and we saw some people who weren’t an ideal match. Yet those people knew investors who were right for us. So , even if the matches weren’t 100 % right, they still had connections, they still had networks that they offered to plug me into. ”
Frasier added that: “While I didn’t get direct advice from anyone, the particular event gave me a lot more confidence. ”
Peter Collins, co-founder and TOP DOG of Phoresis, based within Princeton, began our interview with an explanation of what his company does.
“We have a process for the purification of water that will we believe will reduce the cost associated with purifying water to drinking standard so much that people will make drinking water affordable for the hundreds of millions of people in low-income countries that don’t have entry to it today, ” this individual said.
“That’s the long-term vision that gets us all out of bed, that will drives people forward. Meantime, we have also been identifying lots associated with industrial processes where there’s a need to clean up the wastewater streams so that they can recycle plus reuse drinking water in industry, instead of injecting it into the drains and in to the watercourses. ”
A Princeton University spinout, Phoresis’ technology was developed in the particular Department associated with Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the university’s School of Engineering plus Applied Science by Howard Stone associated with Princeton, the inventor, and is exclusively licensed through Princeton by Phoresis.
“We have the symbiotic relationship, a really close relationship along with the engineering school to further develop the particular technology, ” Collins mentioned. “And that is a relationship we expect to continue indefinitely over time. Therefore , we be prepared to be Nj-new jersey based in to the indefinite future. ”
We captured up with Phoresis after the startup got only acquired two meetings, but the second of those conferences went as “well as is possible, ” Collins said. The particular investor tried to arrange a meeting with a fellow investor in Brooklyn for later that afternoon, but that was impossible, so they set a date for a meeting via Zoom or phone a few days later. He was very excited because this was a “potential investor, that will would bring not just money, yet, frankly, furthermore know-how around manufacturing and prototyping, which would get us to market a lot faster. ”
He additional: “There are two kinds of investment: smart money plus dumb cash. And it’s the wise investments we are right after. If you get dumb money, this can actually be a burden because, then, when you hit bumps in the road, they do not understand that there are bumps within the street. And, suddenly, they panic, and they want their money back, right? Whereas this investor would bring a great deal of relevant, related experience that will complements exactly what Linda and I have. ”
The company is currently located at Princeton University, but will need to move out from the university labs by the particular end of the year. Collins was hopeful about receiving help from the NJEDA to achieve that.
Valentine Aderin, founder and CEO associated with Bamigbe , based within New Brunswick, a global logistics company along with a twist, told all of us that Bamigbe is the fastest, safest and most efficient way to send and receive packages globally.
“We are dedicated to the particular timely, worldwide delivery of packages, ” he said. “Founded in 2016, Bamigbe has evolved from the domestic package delivery platform to a global expedited delivery servicer. ”
Bamigbe does this through a membership platform and an app.
“For the past several years, we’ve already been doing this manually, ” Aderin said. “You have a product you want or you have an item you want to deliver to a different part of the world. You call us and we will find a person someone that is going to that destination. We’ll arrange the meeting, you give the items to them, and these people will deliver them for you. Now, we now have just launched our new mobile application, making that will process easy, and also making it simple to expand the system.
“We look at it as the global network of individuals that are sending packages, getting packages plus delivering packages for other members. ”
Aderin told us that Bamigbe verifies everyone who signs up to become a member. And there is no fee involved.
“We perform ID verification, self-verification, cell phone number confirmation, email address verification, ” he stated. “You furthermore have to sign up with a valid credit card to have access to use the app. In the past three or even four many years that we’ve been inside business, we have had zero claims. Everyone that sent out something on our own network received a package. ”
We caught up along with Aderin after he had six trader meetings.
“I’m glad I arrived, because some investors were interested, and some were not. But some said, ‘I know someone that would love to invest in this. ’”
And they gave him contact information to follow up with all of them.
Also, he or she got a few good advice: “We came in looking with regard to an investment associated with about $2 million in order to $5 million. But, when I spoke to one of the particular investors, he recommended that will we come in lower and do the investments within milestones. This way, we’re not giving away so much of our organization. We don’t want to give away 55 to 60% of the company because we’re looking for so much money. If we do the particular investments in milestones, all of us are better off. That was very good guidance that I did not think of. ”
Conversation Starters
Reach ABF Creative at: abfc. co or call 973-368-5895.
Reach Phoresis at: 609-683-1910.
Reach Bamigbe at: bamigbe. com or even call 844-605-SHIP.
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