Founder Files: how Efe Cakarel raised $750k in funding for MUBI

Dollar bills

Almost all creative businesses require an element of funding in order to scale and grow. And the routes to funding vary depending on whether you dig deep into your own pockets, go cap in hand to the bank, or convince investors to buy into your vision.

With very little in the way of personal savings, Efe Cakarel went out and raised a significant amount of funds to grow his business, MUBI (a global film streaming service) into the phenomenal success that it is today. This is what he had to say to our founder, Carolyn Dailey, during an interview for our latest Founder File:

“I didn’t have much money saved. And because I didn’t go back to Turkey to take over my family’s business; I sort of gave credit cards back a long time ago, I couldn’t ask – I didn’t have the face to ask – for money from my father.

I raised money about a year and a half after I started [my business]. I raised $750K. But it happened over a weekend, it’s amazing, you just really keep pushing, trying, and then you’re ready and you go out, and people, at that point, actually don’t invest in the idea. Or the business. They invest in your ability to figure it out.”

In the same Founder File, you can also hear from six other high profile creative founders – Amanda Levete, Mills Miller, Col Needham, Will Hudson, Matthew Slotover and Bella Freud – as they discuss their own routes to business financing. Each founder has had a different journey and their experiences provide a fascinating glimpse into what it takes to succeed.

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