SaLisa Berrien is used to seeing people's shock when they begin asking about the investment history of her company, COI Energy Services.
The Tampa-based company, which works both with utility companies and businesses to help conserve energy and give to underserved communities, started in 2016 and was incorporated in 2018. For the first two years during its development phase, it was entirely bootstrapped by Berrien herself.
"We had major contracts to deliver on and didn't have the financial resources to cover us," she said. "[After being denied investments], people felt like, 'Are we not able to get through this hump?' But for me, growing up with my family and community as African Americans, we always had to make something out of nothing. For me, failure isn’t an option, and being that we didn't get an investment [at the time], we had to figure it out."
Now, she has $2.5 million from outside investors. A mix of venture capital firms, public entity funds and crowdfunding through Republic helped her complete her seed round. She was also selected to be in Ontario-based SheEO's portfolio, which focuses on female founders and operates funding as a loan with 0% interest, expected to be paid back over five years.
"Just seeing sheEO support woman founders with [loan setup] is great," she said. "Because you'll see more founders being able to scale on their own terms. And this allows us to accelerate and give up less of our equity. But our overall round is pretty unique."
None of the funding came from Florida and instead was found in Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania.
"When people asked, 'SaLisa how are you getting support?' When they realize I didn't get any investment out of Florida ... folks were in shock," she said. "Most of the investors I talked to said, 'We don't know energy,' even though they had me meet with their experts in energy. They would come back and say, 'We will sit out this round.'"
She knows her story is all too common, especially among Black female founders. According to Fortune, Black female-led startups received .06% of total available funds in 2018.
Berrien initially was shooting for a $5 million seed round, but after speaking to investors and assessing the company's fast trajectory, she aimed for a smaller initial round. She now has her sight set on a $15 million Series A round and will begin raising in Q4.
The newest infusion of funding will help with growth, according to Berrien, who did not wish to elaborate further, except to say she will likely bring 10 to 15 new employees to the company's current 19-person staff by the end of the year.
"The opportunities are so huge right now," she said, adding that the company closed a contract in New York for "tens of millions" of dollars. "The opportunity is totally huge. We’re hiring in Florida, in New York, in Boston. 'Capitalize' feels wrong to say but it's the right word. We're capitalizing on this growth."
Correction: Berrien bootstrapped the first two years, not the first five years of her company. Tampa Bay Inno regrets the error.
