Dawn Dickson, Popcoms Founder Raised $2.3 million Through Crowdfunding

Popcoms, a Black-Owned automated retail company that focuses on smart vending and Kiosk solutions has successfully completed its second equity crowdfunding campaign on Start Engine. The CEO of the company revealed, on Sunday, that it made $2.3 million from crowdfunding.

The goal of crowdfunding is to expand the company's operation and build its sales and at the same time increase its customer's demand for automated retail machines. The company revealed that in just 47 days, Popcom was able to achieve what no female black-owned company has ever achieved in the wake of history. The company was able to make $2.3 million in capital exclusively from crowdfunding investors. 

“Although the timing is sensitive due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we must continue to look towards the future and build products for our customers,” said Dawn Dickson, PopCom Founder & CEO. “While some industries are hurting, the requirement for social distancing validates the need for vending and retail automation. We believe that the market will continue to move towards self-service and contactless retail. Vending machines and convenience services are becoming more essential, and retailers are looking for more ways to deliver their products direct-to-customer with less human friction. We are excited about what is to come.”

In 2020, Popcom increases its business service to cover the entire retail market. As a result of this, the company has secured technology pilots and rollout starting with cannabis.

Part of the intention of the company for the year is to use its operating system to power all Machine-derived transactions in the retail space. Since the company’s operating device also makes use of facial detection, the company also intends to use this to get more information about their customer. This includes information concerning the customers’ demography, age, emotion, and gender. This is to help the company understand its customers and also work towards satisfying them.  All of these are what necessitated the company's crowdfunding program

 “It was important to me to be able to raise capital this way to build and encourage intergenerational wealth is often overlooked communities,” Dickson said. “I aim to bridge the gap between venture capital and everyday people.”

With more than 40,000 investors, Popcoms was able to break history by achieving $2.3 million with just two crowdfunding campaigns within 47 days. For the campaign, Dickson made use of Regulation CF secure token offering (STO), which allows the company to secure investment from the general public, whether accredited or non-accredited investors.  This technique is not the same as what is used in most companies when carrying out their fundraising campaign.

Although the technique helped in achieving this great feat, the result is, to a large extent, influence by the current #BlackLivesMatter movement.

“The global community is calling for self-service retail to become more easily accessible, considering the shifts in our climate and technological advancements,” said Dickson. “With investment becoming more inclusive and open to forward-thinkers, my family, friends, community, and supporters, I believe we will reach the next milestones to success.”

PopCom is still accepting reservations from investors who want to be waitlisted for future rounds. There is over $300,000 in commitments to date.

About Popcoms company

Popcoms company is owned by a black woman named Dawn Dickson. It is an automated retail company that deals in all kinds of software for kiosks and vending machines. The company was founded in 2017.

The goal of the company is in revolutionizing brick-and-mortar retail with frictionless, machine derived transactions.  It is an alumnus of TechStars and Cnopy Border company. It is also a venture-backed company.

Investors in the company include NCT Capital, Backstage Capital, and Black Star Angel Fund.