Arts & Entertainment

“Unicorn Hunters” a new reality show to democratize access to investment

By Nora Quintanilla

New York, May 10 (EFE).- Giving “regular people” the opportunity to invest in the “next Facebook” and opening the doors of capital to entrepreneurs who want to fix the world is the aim of “Unicorn Hunters,” a new television reality series that airs Monday on several streaming platforms.

“We can change the dynamic of the market and give power to people, give power to entrepreneurs, to change the world,” said one of the show’s hosts, Silvina Moschini, the only Latin American entrepreneur to found a “unicorn,” or “startup company” valued at $1 billion or more before going public.

Financed by Moschini’s telecommuting management firm TransparentBusiness and produced according to the model of popular reality shows like “The Apprentice” and “The Masked Singer,” execuive producer Craig Plestis said the series is seeking to create a new TV genre that combines entertainment with investment opportunities potentially leading to “enrichment.”

The idea is for viewers to be able to get in on the ground floor by investing in companies with great potential before they offer shares on the public markets, thus obtaining high investment returns, the best example being Uber, where two investors who initially put up $5,000 found themselves sitting atop $25 million after the firm went public.

“We believe that with this we can ‘hack’ the financing system and give (the opportunity) to regular people like you, like me, who say: look, I have a few thousand dollars, or $100 dollars, to start with, and I want to invest it in the next Facebook before it becomes Facebook,” he said via videoconference.

Similar to the popular US TV program “Shark Tank,” “Unicorn Hunters” has about 10 hosts who are experts in different areas, “the best in each category,” among whom is Steve Wozniak, the cofounder of Apple.

“Wozniak is never on TV and he’s a very private person. He defines himself as a ‘non-investor,’ and he said: I want to see the next Apple right from its creation,” Moschini said.

Also among the hosts, besides Moschini, are two other Latinos: Rosie Rios, former US treasurer during the Barack Obama administration, and Moe Vela, former advisor to current President Joe Biden when he was vice president under Obama.

Rios told EFE that people will be able to invest via “crowdfunding” thanks to the JOBS Act that was approved in 2012, a year after the US Treasury, under her stewardship, held several Capital Acceptance Conferences from which the basis of that law derived.

“It’s marvelous that everything’s getting to the take-off point and that I can participate actively in its implementation,” Rios said, emphasizing the importance of enabling more women to gain access to “areas of money and power.”

Encouraged by the chance to find new “unicorns” – and there are about 600 worldwide – experts will look for companies that are having a positive impact on society, are aligned with Sustainable Development Goals, are taking care of the planet and are creating value for stockholders, among other things.

“Unicorn Hunters,” Moschini said, can “change the reality” of entrepreneurs all over the world who don’t have access to large capital funds or to Silicon Valley. “Whether you belong or not. The majority of entrepreneurs don’t come from Stanford and are not the cousins of someone who tells them ‘I’m going to give you some money.'”

On the other hand, Moschini conceives of the series as a “Trojan horse” for amassing investments via a “fun” program that will be complemented with a platform with informative content, educational resources, community interaction and a “transactional” component to “accelerate” business.

She said that the project will probably “bother people,” as occurred with the GameStop phenomenon and disruptive technology models on the stock market like Robinhood, but she says the world is “prepared” for that. “The establishment, the traditional money, is not going to be super happy, but fine. Let them do things better,” she said.

The first six-episode season, will air on the unicornhunters.com platform on LinkedIn and YouTube, and later it will be distributed via Amazon Prime Video.

EFE

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