Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Food52 raised a $750,000 seed round primarily from professional angel investors

Amanda Hesser · Food52: Amanda Hesser · Apr 5, 2021 · at 1:04:06

Amanda Hesser, co-founder of Food52, discusses the company's initial funding round secured in late 2010 after months of struggling to find investors.

0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.5s
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“And it was 750,000. ... Actually, it wasn't really friends and family. It was actually mostly institutional or professional angel investors.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

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Disclosure
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Assertion Not checkable as stated
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Disclosure
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