These longtime friends and entrepreneurs are launching a new merchant wallet, designed specifically to simplify how businesses get paid.<\/p>\n
Bakari (Sencere) Smith and Austin Evans have transformed their longtime friendship into a tech venture. Inspired by Atlanta\u2019s entrepreneurial<\/a> scene, they launched Guala, a fintech platform that aims to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs and creatives in the micro-seller economy.<\/p>\n \u201cAtlanta thrives off of entrepreneurship. I think how the community influenced me, it just made me always wanna help the people in Atlanta \u2026 So as it ties to Guala, that\u2019s what our whole purpose is, to be able to help the new generation of what entrepreneurs look like,\u201d Smith, chief marketing officer of Guala, told AFROTECH\u2122.<\/p>\n Smith and Evans were entrepreneurs in their own right prior to starting the company.<\/p>\n In his junior year of high school, Smith launched a record label, eventually leading to a career as a music executive.<\/a> He is also the owner of Platez Southern Kitchen, a restaurant that combines his passion for entrepreneurship with community and hospitality, according to<\/a>\u00a0his LinkedIn.<\/p>\n Evans was selling clothes while studying at Texas A&M University. He made $70,000 within three months, which led him to secure partnerships, including with CC Creations, a global collegiate merchandise retailer.<\/p>\n \u201cI got a 30% royalty deal<\/a> on the purchase price of the T-shirts \u2026 Every month they sent me a full itemized statement of my SKUs, my data points, and everything, and that was the first time I really saw what enterprise-level accounting looked like,\u201d Evans, Guala\u2019s CEO, explained. \u201cSo for me, it clicked immediately because I had been doing business<\/a> in such an informal way. I couldn\u2019t get a CPA to bank me. I couldn\u2019t get access to loans, credit. When it was time to go get a mortgage, time to look at housing, I\u2019m always having all this trouble reconciling paperwork. My solutions were fragmented.\u201d<\/p>\n Entrepreneurs who have experienced a similar fate can now turn to Guala, which simplifies managing payments while creating financial records that can unlock access to capital and other wealth-building opportunities.<\/p>\n Guala<\/p>\n Users can say goodbye to toggling through various payment apps. Guala allows business owners to accept payments through one merchant wallet, organize transactions, and track revenue, according to a press release shared with AFROTECH\u2122.<\/p>\n Payments will also be converted into financial records that can help founders access capital, housing, and broader economic opportunities, according to information shared with AFROTECH\u2122.<\/p>\n Additionally, Guala will provide access to a credit line and loans and has partnerships in the works to support the infrastructure.<\/p>\n A standout feature for Desyree Nicole<\/a> \u2014 Guala\u2019s chief strategy officer who manages\u00a0brand development, content, storytelling,<\/a> and user experience \u2014 is the platform\u2019s customer insights, which report on new and returning customers, as well as\u00a0revenue growth.<\/p>\n Guala is currently available<\/a> on the Apple Store.<\/p>\n Funding<\/p>\n Guala has been supported with $400,000 through pitch competitions, including Hustle Fund\u2019s BatterUp, as well as accelerators, according to the press release.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s vision has also attracted investor interest from Pinnacle Bank through the Generator program. That partnership provided more than funding, as Guala gained access to banking expertise and relationships, which have helped as they built products and formed connections with banks.<\/a> Additional investment support includes funding from Halogen Ventures, led by Founding Partner Jessie Draper, which has expanded Guala\u2019s networks and resources to help scale as a business.<\/p>\n Guala has opened its $3 million pre-seed round with a goal of oversubscribing, Evans told AFROTECH\u2122.<\/p>\n To commemorate its launch, Guala hosted a party at Jaggers Suite Rooftop at the Moxy Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These longtime friends and entrepreneurs are launching a new merchant wallet, designed specifically to simplify how businesses get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[178],"tags":[111130,110668,79,18,236,19,3442,17,753,44224],"class_list":["post-620402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-afrotech","tag-black-community","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-ie","tag-investing","tag-ireland","tag-tech","tag-wealth-building"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117038737811392294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}