The Underestimated - Issue 12
The Diversity X newsletter showcasing the underestimated founders making a positive impact in the world and keeping you up to date on the Diversity X journey.
What is coming up in this issue?
👏🏾 Diversity X Update
📖 Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
🌱 Community Update
📰 Monthly update on what has been going on with Diversity X
🤝 🔦Spotlight on a Diversity X Founders’ Community member
📆Upcoming events and plans
💥💥DX Team and Fund Update 🚀🚀
We continue to raise capital for the Diversity X Opportunity EIS Fund. This is an EIS fund to back 8 to 10 founders from within our community who are solving real-world problems in climate, health, education, or the future of work. CAPITAL AT RISK.
As with all capital raising at the moment, we seem to be moving at a snail’s pace. We remain confident, but any and all help is welcome. So if you want to find out more, email us to arrange a time for a conversation. Additionally, if you know any professional investors, then please make an introduction.
Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment, and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more by clicking here.
VC Lab Update - we have left the program! The timing was not right for us at present, but we valued the experience, and when we are in a better position, we will look to apply to a future cohort (hopefully with a running start).
To find out more, email us at investor@diversityx.vc
Tell Me Something I Don’t Know
One of my personal drivers, and a key reason for the existence of Diversity X, is the absolute need to see a more equitable and equal world. On my recent visit to Taiwan to see my daughter, I asked her to tell me something I didn’t know. She didn’t tell me about the lack of capital going towards underestimated founders…she would have known i already knew that….or maybe it is not something a 12-year-old knows. However….
Beauhurst reported that 2p in the £ went to all female-founded teams in 2022. Tell me something I don’t know! Seriously??? Yes, seriously, it seems.
According to Pitchbook, while overall VC funding dropped by 36% in 2022 as inflation and interest rates surged, financing for Black businesses saw a steeper drop of 45%, according to the Crunchbase data. That drop is the largest year-over-year decrease Black entrepreneurs have seen over the past decade.
I guess it is still a “better the devil you know” mode for traditional VCs and investors.
Being a founder is a tough gig, particularly today. Being an underestimated founder is even more challenging. The data bears this out. One of the key goals for Diversity X is to create more opportunities for underestimated founders to access capital.
The opportunity to support underestimated founders is a big swimming pool, and right now, it is rather empty. So join us and help us build support through creating access to capital, resources, network, and support for underestimated founders. Email Kevin or Marquis for a conversation.
Community Update
Another 30 underestimated founders joined our ranks over the last month. If you are or know any founders that are any of:
Female ✅
Person of colour ✅
Disabled ✅
LGBTQ+ ✅
Neuro-diverse ✅
Older ✅
then point them to the Diversity X Founders’ Community. It is free, and here to support their entrepreneurial journey. They can join from here - https://welcome.diversityx.community/invitation?code=G34DC9
News from the Diversity X journey
Highlights over the last month:
💥 We have welcomed another 20 underestimated founders, and now our community platform has 352 founders.
💥 701 views of issue 11 (up 254 from issue 10) and 345 subscribers (to date, up 8 from issue 10).
💥 Progress on the Diversity X Founders University - still a work in progress, but we believe we have found the right to partner to build further and power the program.
💥 Our website is up and running. The investor portion is not yet ready but will be in a matter of weeks, allowing potential investors for the Opportunity EIS Fund to find out more information and apply via the website.
💥 Thank you to everyone who has supported the journey so far.
Meet the Underestimated
Sarah Coward and Paul Canty - In The Room
The Co-Founders:
Sarah Coward is CEO and co-founder of In The Room. Sarah is a leader in the emerging landscape of conversational media, with eight years of international expertise and specialist experience in innovating in-voice interactive video. A highly resilient and ambitious founder, before founding In The Room, Sarah led major digital projects affecting thousands of young people in the cultural sector, including instigating and leading a project that preserved the experience of speaking with a Holocaust survivor - using conversational AI, voice and video.
Sarah has 19 years of experience at Director/Senior level in a range of organisations and has 25 years of experience in high-level partnership, business development and fundraising with an emphasis on creating strategic relationships to drive growth. Sarah’s MBA (with distinction) from Strathclyde Graduate School of Business focused on strategic development. She is a speaker at various national and international events and has been chosen as part of the UK cohort representing UK’s top immersive businesses. In 2023 she will be the closing keynote speaker at the Project Voice conference in the US.
Paul is the COO and Co-Founder of In The Room. Paul is a business leader, consultant and board advisor with substantial experience in production, team development and financial planning.
Having built up a wealth of experience at leading digital studios during the 1990s, he founded Preloaded in 2000, a multi-faceted creative studio with game development at its core and a focus on games with a purpose.
During his fifteen years at Preloaded, he built and managed the business, improved efficiencies, increased profitability and supported the team to win some of the most illustrious industry awards, including BAFTAs, BIMAs and Serious Play awards. He has also been at the forefront of technical innovation in the audience engagement space, through multi-platform development.
In 2014 he led Preloaded through a successful acquisition, which culminated in the company becoming a part of the Learning Technologies Group, a group of specialist companies focused on learning technologies across corporate and commercial sectors.
The Startup:
In The Room is delivering the world’s most flexible and effective conversational media platform for business. Enabling global audiences to have real-time 1:1 conversational experiences with the people in demand. Anytime. Anyplace. 24/7.
Scaling up the presence of experts, leaders and influencers everywhere to meet business goals.
In The Room's technology is already being used across various industries, including MarComms and life-long learning. The company launched their first experience with Universal Music, and customers include an international brand associated with McLaren F1, an international corporate training provider and online learning organisations, amongst others. They have pilot projects upcoming with a range of universities and the World Health Organisation.
What can you do to support In The Room? They are raising capital. Reach out to the founders for more info.
Gabriela Isas and Ellie Kallis - Good With
The Co-Founders:
Gabriela is the Co-Founder & CEO of Good With. She Forward-thinking professional with a track record of leading digital transformation & innovation with 30 years’ experience that touches every aspect of marketing, business strategy & innovation, through to delivery, user experience and commercialisation. Technical knowledge, business acumen, & proven leadership capability to drive change and get things done. With experience across multiple industries, Gabriela has fomented an ability to take seemingly disparate facts into a cohesive, tangible story. Achievements: Innovate UK Smart Grant recipient, first cohort of Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation, Finalist @ Google Fintech Start-up weekend, Financial Inclusion Challenge, Oxford/Berlin, IC Tomorrow Financial Literacy Challenge, Venturefest, Oxford.
Ellis is the Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Good With. Ellie is an accomplished former academic with scientific publications in high-impact journals and a long list of international conference contributions. Her expertise includes understanding and measuring complex human behaviours, and applying robust statistical techniques to their interpretation. In 2020, Ellie left academic science to pursue her love for applied behavioural science, working as a data scientist for a leading UK provider of financial services. At Good With, Ellie oversees the planning, design and implementation of all things data. She ensures we design a product that aligns with UK GDPR and guidance for best practices in responsible AI.
The Startup:
Building Financial Capability & A Credit Risk Profile For Underserved Young Adults
Good With’s AI-Money Coach delivers personalised financial guidance to their end-users, helping them feel in control of their finances, avoid bad debt and build a ‘Readiness Score’; a robust risk profile which will give our financial services customers insights and a better understanding of the credit risk and vulnerability that our users represent.
Their ambition is to disrupt the way customers are assessed for risk. They are rapidly gaining recognition in the charity, health, academic and financial sectors for their fair, ethical and transparent approach to solving this pressing issue.
What can you do to support Good With? They are currently recruiting an ambitious senior, full-stack software leader to join us. They are seeking a tech leader who will bring their prototype to market.
The focus is on creating a solid product, scalable architecture and delightful user experience. Our tech team is set to grow rapidly in the coming months, and the ideal candidate is required to define the team structure, refine the tech stack, and take ownership of ensuring we stand up to technical due diligence and regulatory scrutiny. If this sounds like you, get in touch with the co-founders.
Additionally, Good With is raising capital - so get in touch.
******DISCLAIMER! - This newsletter showcases founders from within the Diversity X Founders’ Community. We do not endorse or promote any investment into any of the featured startups.******
Upcoming Events
Every Friday - A Week in Review call
8 March 2023 - IWD Event - details to be arranged.
April - Kevin will speak at Illuminate Dublin
And that’s a wrap for this month and year….
Reach out with any questions to investor@diversityx.vc
INVESTORS - let’s chat - contact Kevin (kevin@diversityx.vc). CAPITAL AT RISK
Underestimated founders® - join a community that is a welcoming and safe space. Here is your link (note - this is only for founders - others will be removed).
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