Ladies!
I’m super excited to be talking about this. I had personally went through quite the journey in fundraising for my beloved Kiddocare Malaysia. We started with raising our seed funding through Pitchin's ECF. And it was a deliberate choice because for us then, it was killing two birds with one stone - potential fundraising (from people who believed in our mission), and if we miss that "bird", we'll probably get them to speak about us to those around them (if not try our service for themselves).
And then, the pandemic hit, just as we were trying to raise a round to scale. Investors were cautious, what was supposed to be a 6-months exercise, took almost 2 years to materialise, it was nerve wrecking. Sometime in between, I was ready to throw the towel and call it quits, but that's another story for another time (maybe if we have time on the panel, I'll touch a bit), but in summary, we managed to raise what we call our life-line round from a local VC. Being "young" and desperate, there were things we wished we could have done better (like learning how to negotiate better, and understanding term sheets as well as the SHA). But well... we learn along the way.
Ah, we also secured some financing too, to help with our cashflow post pandemic. Now raising debt, is very different from raising equity funding.
With the business scaling, last year, we closed our pre-A funds from 3 new investors. A little bit more mature, having better support system and advisors, a tad bit more wisdom and experience, and not in the position of begging for money, we landed on a favorable deal. On top of that, we get to enjoy having investors who truly appreciate our mission and support our vision. In that round, it wasn't about getting money, rather, forging strategic alliances.
So, can't wait to share more about our experiences, come and shoot those burning questions, because that may just help you, and other thriving business women succeed in securing that 1st funding.
Join me at The Rise Summit: Female Financial Empowerment!
If you’re a female founder, looking to thrive in your business and achieve financial growth, here’s an event to be at. I’ll be joined by fellow panelist Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin Managing Director of MadCash and Elena Kersey, Local Collective Captain of Epic Angels to help you with " Everything You Need To Know About First-Time Fundraising ". Moderated by Xelia Tong, COO of PitchIn, where we’ll be sharing insights and strategies to navigate your first (or next) fundraising journey.
Lock your Calendar:
● Date: 16 May2024, Thursday
● Time: 3:05 PM-3:50 PM(45mins)
● Venue: Asian Business School (ASB)
Register here: https://lnkd.in/gHpSsw-F
and use this discount code : RSPITCHIN
Don’t miss out on this empowering opportunity! See you there!
#RiseSummit #FinancialEmpowerment #WomenInBusiness #Kiddocare #Fundraising #WomenEmpowerment
You rocked the stage, congratulations Dr. Afshan Samani 🫶🩷