President Joe Biden commits to replacing entire federal fleet with electric vehicles - His commitment is tied to a broader campaign promise to create 1 million new jobs in the American auto industry and supply chains. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. The five biggest mistakes I made as a first-time startup founder - Finmark CEO Rami Essaid has some regrets.ĭoes a $27B or $29B valuation make sense for Databricks? - A look at Databricks’ growth history, economics and scale. Ten VCs say interactivity, regulation and independent creators will reshape digital media in 2021 - We asked about the likelihood of further industry consolidation, whether we’ll see more digital media companies take the SPAC route and, of course, what they’re looking for in their next investment. Mealco raises $7M to launch new delivery-centric restaurants - By launching a restaurant with Mealco, chefs don’t sign a lease or pay any other upfront costs.
SetSail nabs $26M Series A to rethink sales compensation - SetSail says salespeople should be paid them throughout the sales cycle. PepsiCo and Beyond Meat launch poorly named joint venture for new plant-based food and drinks - The name? The PLANeT Partnership.įast raises $102M as the online checkout wars continue to attract huge investment - The new funding was led by Stripe. In 2013, the entrepreneur dived into his savings and credit cards to create Calendly.TikTok is being used by vape sellers marketing to teens - Sellers are offering flavored disposable vapes, parent-proof “discreet” packaging and no ID checks. He later unsuccessfully launched an e-commerce site selling projectors. He emigrated to the US from the suburbs of Lagos as a teenager with his family to continue his education after the tragic death of his father.Īfter graduating from the University of Georgia and stints at IBM and EMCAwotona launched some e-commerce ventures including building a dating site that didn’t launch due to a lack of resources. He added: “While we considered outside investment an unnecessary distraction, we made the decision to partner with OpenView and Iconiq because of their insight and extended network within the tech industry.” Nigerian Immigrant To AtlantaĪwotona’s success has been hailed as an example of the grit and determination to overcome hurdles often shown by immigrants who set up businesses.
Speaking about the company’s success and its latest investment Awotona told the Atlanta Voice: “Our profitable, unique, product-led growth model has led to Calendly becoming the most used, most integrated, most loved scheduling platforms for individuals and large enterprises alike.” The company has also doubled its subscription revenue to $70 million. Observers have noted that a big part of Calendly’s appeal is how easily it can be used with calender applications such as Office 365, Outlook and apps such as Paypal and GoToMeeting.
The software will guide the end-user through selecting a meeting slot and then the meeting will be created.Īmong its new user base are professionals such as teachers and health workers as well as freelancers, entrepreneurs, and contractors. And it can be done without having to send a raft of emails.Ī Calendly account holder can display available meeting times once they share their custom link. It is an easy-to-use scheduling software system that provides a quick way to manage open spaces in your calendar for people to book appointments with you in those spaces, which then also books out the time in calendars like Google’s or Microsoft Outlook. Today however there are approximately 10 million people using the service. In 2019, the company’s platform had just under a million users. However, it has seen huge growth over the last year as a result of changes in how people work.Īfter Covid 19 forced the closure of offices and other meeting places such as coffee shops, libraries, and community centers as well as schools and colleges there has been a surge in the numbers of people working from home.ġ0 NIGERIAN-AMERICANS MAKING WAVES IN TECH