Antonio James releases more information about its stealth startup, MeChat, to raise a $3 million seed round to transform entrepreneurs and startups with funding, resources, and software to grow efficiently, reach critical mass, and scale.

While many entrepreneurs launch with ground breaking ideas and world-class executive teams, less than 1% of businesses will ever get funding from investors, such as venture capitalists, or a bank. For Black owned businesses funding is particular critical to survival, as Black businesses launch with three times less capital than new white-owned businesses. (the Kauffman Foundation).

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“MeChat seeks to be the bridge that closes the gap between Main Street businesses, success, and Wall Street lenders.”

— Antonio James

The challenges facing black entrepreneurs starting or growing a business cannot be solved with a magic wand and does not stop with lack of funding. “Without the proper relationships or connection to an Angel Investor or loan officer businesses simply do not have access to the capital required to hire the right management team, organize administrative work, streamline workflows, efficiently manage their inventory, implement the right processes and culture, and keep up with the various compliances, financial liabilities, and tax laws required for a business to grow and be successful,” stated Antonio James, MeChat founder, “This is why 70% of businesses fail within their first 10 years- they are overwhelmed, which can lead to over thinking and bad decision making. MeChat seeks to be the bridge that closes the gap between Main Street businesses, success, and Wall Street lenders.”

MeChat breaks down the barriers to business startup, growth and black business ownership by providing the software to support business intelligence, business execution, and streamlined business processes, workflows, and people using a single user-friendly, easy to use interface that simplifies each aspect of their business by enabling each disconnected system to “talk” to one another.

MeChat even integrates with Stripe to give businesses a built in payment processor, QR codes for selling, and databases to organize financial records, verify continuous revenue, and generates reports that represent business acumen and viability when applying for bank loans.

MeChat FinTech Messenger provides self-serve Business Automation tools and help businesses collect, organize, and utilize Big Data, but also partners with Wall Street and Main Street through local town halls to update national standards, lobby for legislation that protects members’ investments and wealth, and gives Badge Owners the opportunity to vote on changes to policies, the platform, and community.

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As software as a service, MeChat FinTech Messenger aggregates businesses for online fellowship, peer-2-peer support, and global marketplace in it’s online Main Street where businesses and subscribing customers explore multiple businesses, quickly acquire services, make purchases from thousands of vendors, connect with other owners, access self employed benefits, and more – all in one place.

Like the SBA, Score, BBB, and Business Commerce organizations, MeChat also hosts local Town Halls and provide free online mentoring and advice by building MeChat Business Centers in local underserved communities using funds from Sponsors. The highest grossing sponsor will receive naming rights, while larger donors receive statutes at the centers. The centers are expected to employ over 10,000 people nationwide, earn more that $10 million per year each, and increase MeChat asset portfolio.

Through a comprehensive platform teams of strategist, consultants, and developers, MeChat FinTech Messenger gives entrepreneurs the best chance to reach critical mass and grow, specifically when traditional financing and resources are unavailable.

With MeChat, all Main Street business and black business owners can bypass traditional financing and resources and use their own collective bargaining power and MeChat’s FinTech Messenger to receive the basic business essentials that larger companies and wealthy founders have access to when starting their business.

MeChat FinTech Messenger Key Features include:

– Ability to raise money with no deadlines or goals
– An online Business Page to capture leads and nurture loyal customers
– A MeChat Store for online ordering
– QR codes for selling in person
– Stripe Integration to accept MasterCard, Visa and other card Payments
– Task Management Portals
– Analytics: See the Health and Performance of your business
– Marketing Funnels
– Sales Pipelines
– News Feeds to connect to customers
– Main Street Online to connect to other businesses and entrepreneurs

In 2021, Antonio James partnered with Angelo Byrd and Raza Hussain to raise a $3M seed round to complete its FinTech Messenger and ecosystem.