Mi Padrino was down to the last $6,000 in the bank. Marta Michelle Colon, cofounder of Access Latina, CEO at Buena Gente, and a member of Chloe Capital’s inaugural Women’s Investors Accelerator advisory board referred Gamez to its competition.
Funding attracts investors from across the U.S.; Catalyzed by Chloe Capital
NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2018 / — Mi Padrino®, an event-planning and crowd-gifting platform for the Hispanic community, announced today that it has secured a Series Seed round. Launched in 2017, MiPadrino.com makes it easy to organize and fund Latino events like Quinceañeras and weddings.
Astia Angels led the round, which includes industry leader XO Group (TheKnot) as well as Chloe Capital, Invest Detroit, Invest Michigan and others. An all-in-one marketplace, event hosts use Mi Padrino to register for gifts, find vendors, shop for products, and more. The funds raised will accelerate Mi Padrino‘s growth trajectory by enhancing its platform, expanding marketing efforts, and investing in user engagement and retention.
“Mi Padrino has quickly become the leading Hispanic event planning platform in the US,” said Kim Gamez, CEO and Co-Founder. “In twelve months, over two million guests have attended Mi Padrino events. This investment allows us to continue to improve the Hispanic party planning experience helping even more Latinx families enjoy and celebrate their traditions.”
“It’s been a pleasure working with Kim Gamez,” said Elisa Miller-Out, Founding Partner at Chloe Capital. “Mi Padrino was first brought to our attention Marta Michelle Colon, Co-founder of Access Latina, CEO of Buena Gente, and a member of the Chloe Capital advisory board. We quickly helped us recognize Kim’s stellar leadership skills, and her company’s ability to capture a rapidly growing and underrepresented market.”
Kim Gamez was invited to pitch at Chloe Capital’s inaugural Women’s Investors Accelerator at the end of last year. The accelerator united leaders in angel investing and venture capital with a select handful of women-led technology companies. Mi Padrino was chosen to receive Chloe Capital’s first investment.
“Our journey with Kim is a testament to the power of community. In addition to an introduction by Marta Michelle, Astia Angels joined us as a funding partner for our Accelerator, which resulted in the immediate opportunity for Kim to pitch Astia’s network of angels for follow on funding. Ita Ekpoudom from Plum Alley was also a member of our investor panel. She offered to introduce Kim to the Founder of TheKnot, which is owned by the XO Group,” said Miller-Out. “Our final decision to invest in Mi Padrino was strengthened by these key connections.”
According to Mi Padrino Board Member and investor Carol Schrader, “Astia Angel’s investment in Mi Padrino is significant as it extends our mission. Kim and her team presented a compelling opportunity to not only invest in a dynamic female entrepreneur, but also a Latina-focused business based in the Midwest.”
In the U.S. alone, over 400,000 Hispanic girls celebrate quinceañeras (their coming of age event) every year and on average families spend $20,000 on the event. Globally, quinceañeras are a $49 billion dollar industry and combined with other traditional celebrations (weddings, baptisms, tres años, etc.) create a $400B market.
“We’re thrilled to invest in a company that’s serving the Hispanic community with innovative products and services for quinceañeras and beyond,” said Alison Bernstein, Vice President and General Manager, XO Group. “At XO Group, we believe in the importance of celebrations and traditions. Connecting to the right tools, advice and local services is key in planning an amazing party. XO Group is excited to help Mi Padrino become the premier Hispanic event planning marketplace in the world.”
About Mi Padrino
At Mi Padrino, we believe in the deep and lasting impact of traditions and events in shaping lives and building community. We make event planning easy by organizing and connecting hosts, guests, vendors, products and resources, so that Latino families and friends can focus on what matters: Honoring their heritage and celebrating life’s most significant occasions together.
About Chloe Capital
Chloe Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in women-led innovation companies. Our mission is to decrease the gender gap in entrepreneurship and venture capital. We further this mission through our investments and enrichment programs that provide women entrepreneurs and investors with mentorship and connections to resources. We aim to make our next five investments during the 2018-2019 Chloe Capital National Tour > ChloeCapital.com/tour
About Astia Angels
Astia Angels is a premier global angel network made up of women, men and family offices investing in companies with inclusive executive teams. Since the launch of Astia Angels in 2013, members have made 95 investments into 60 women-led companies across the sectors of technology, life sciences, cleantech and consumer products, from seed to growth stage, representing $20.5M+ in investment and $250M+ in syndicate investments.
Selects Founder of Mi Padrino, Mother of Five, for First Investment
NEW YORK, November 22, 2017 – Chloe Capital jumpstarts a venture capital fund focused on supporting women-led tech companies during their Women Investor Accelerator. The initiative brought together leading women entrepreneurs and pioneers in angel investing and venture capital for a two day educational and networking retreat. This unified effort has assisted in expanding opportunities, funding, and other resources for women entrepreneurs.
Photo by Heather Ainsworth
The launch of Chloe Capital’s mission comes at a time of increasing focus on the imbalance of resources available to women entrepreneurs. According to a recent study by the Diana International Research Network at Babson College, only 2.7% of all U.S. companies receiving venture capital have a woman CEO.
“Over my 20 year career as a serial entrepreneur in the tech space, I have personally experienced the gender gap in technology and entrepreneurship. Often, I’ve been the only woman in a room of hundreds of people,” said founding partner, Elisa Miller-Out. “We are building something new around women and technology, entrepreneurship, and diversity in tech. Chloe Capital’s mission is to have more diverse voices at the table building this future together.”
The name Chloe Capital is a combination of Elisa’s daughters’ names. “The idea is to empower our next generation and build a better future for all of our daughters and granddaughters. We are doing this so that they have the opportunity to follow their dreams and become entrepreneurs and investors, if they so choose, and be supported by a community of amazing female role models,” she added.
Kim Gamez is the CEO and Cofounder of Mi Padrino. After winning the seed investment during the Chloe Capital Women Investor Accelerator, Kim confessed having felt defeated at times until this milestone.
“I honestly was not expecting to win. I know I have a great platform, but I’ve been pitching mostly in the midwest where there are not a lot of female founders and predominantly only male investors. As a mother and woman business owner, I just haven’t felt understood,” said Gamez. “Now here I am, surrounded by a group of amazing, supportive women, who didn’t bat an eyelash when during the awards ceremony I was literally in the back corner breastfeeding my six-week-old! Could you imagine if I was in a room full of men? That would have been crazy,” she laughed. “I’m so honored. And all I can say is women, we can do this. We can do this together.”
Mi Padrino, is an event planning site focused on the Hispanic community. Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Mi Padrino launched in late June of this year and already has over 50,000 users on the platform.
As part of the launch, Chloe Capital unveiled a key partnership with Astia Angels that provides the winner with the opportunity to pitch Astia investors for a potential co-investment. Workshops during the Accelerator also engaged area innovators in a collaborative effort to understand the challenges and needs of women entrepreneurs.
“Our larger mission is to develop solutions that address the gender gap in technology, entrepreneurship and investing,” said Chloe Capital partner, Kathryn Cartini. “We want to see the numbers move from less than 5% of women founders being funded in the venture capital space, to 50% plus, which is where we are in the population.”
Chloe Capital saw their vision come to life during the Women Investor Accelerator. Women representing a diverse range of communities, including the African American, LatinX and Asian American communities, participated. These entrepreneurs, investors and supporters also included a vast age range. The Accelerator convened women from all over the world to take part in the mission. Representatives from Pipeline Angels, Astia Angels, NY Angels, Portfolia, Red Bear Angels, Plum Alley Investments, Gotham Gal, Golden Seeds, Ellevate and the Launch NY Seed Fund were all present.
The four other startup founders who participated in the Accelerator will continue to receive mentorship from Chloe Capital and their team of trusted advisors. These companies include:
Beseeq – Advertising and sales channel that lets advertisers send messages directly to target consumers, and pays consumers for watching ads. Advertisers pay the fee. Consumers own their data. CEO, Lisa Hammitt.
ExemptMeNow – Platform that makes creating and maintaining high-performance tax exempt organizations – simple. Revolutionizing the incorporation, exemption and compliance processes for nonprofits. CEO, Sevetri Wilson.
Mission 360 – On demand health community in partnership with fitness, yoga, and meditation studios and instructors. Allows users to stream their favorite videos anytime, from any device. CEO, Erin Sykes.
Raybaby – The world’s only non-contact health and sleep baby monitor, users can check baby’s vitals anytime with a mobile app. The submarine tech tracks respiration rate, and uses AI to infer sleep. Raybaby is a registered vendor for Target and Amazon, and the team is supported by Johnson & Johnson. CEO, Ranjana Nair.
View the complete program for the Chloe Capital Women Investor Accelerator here.
“Gender diversity and equality is not just a women’s problem. It’s a problem for all of us to address, and the solution will benefit all of us,” said Miller-Out. “This Accelerator was a test and a testament to the quality and quantity of entrepreneurs and investors ready to decrease the gender gap in women in tech. It’s clear we’ve tapped into something that is needed, and so important. We’re excited to be a part of it, and we cannot wait to see what happens next,” she added.
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About Chloe Capital
Chloe Capital is a micro-VC fund with a vision to advance entrepreneurship, investment and economic opportunities for women of all colors. We work with diverse teams who are building innovative, thriving companies with emerging technologies and shaping the future in exciting ways. Chloe Capital is located in Upstate NY – centered around some of the top research universities in the world. We’re open to investments and investors throughout the U.S. Learn more at ChloeCapital.com.
About Mi Padrino
Mi Padrino is an event planning site providing a simple alternative to traditional methods of organizing, planning and funding Hispanic events. We help people share event details with friends and family instantly, allowing them to take part in the celebration no matter where they are in the world. Learn more at MiPadrino.com.
Contact
Kathryn Cartini
Chloe Capital