Fellowship Spotlight: NIREMIA Collective
Several years ago, Nichol Bradford came out of a meditation retreat in Japan feeling transformed. For the first time in her life she felt fearless, happy, and deeply connected to herself and to other people.
Her first thoughts after this experience were: “I want everyone to feel this way. And I wonder what the world would be like if we would not lack the conviction, that comes from being happy and fearless, to get things done?”
At that moment she embarked on a mission to democratize and distribute human wellbeing by helping founders who are building the technologies to reduce human burnout, loneliness, anxiety, and depression. As a seasoned global interactive entertainment executive experienced in building businesses, brands, and communities, she knew she could make it happen.
World’s Largest Wellbeing Tech Ecosystem
She founded Transformative Tech the world’s largest ecosystem dedicated to the technologies that support human health, happiness, and excellence. This global ecosystem was built over seven years with the collaboration of hundreds of experts, thousands of founders, and by operating the definitive wellbeing technology conference and investment symposium in the space.
The next logical step in this process was to create a VC fund to invest in and accelerate the growth of these technologies. To that end, Nichol partnered with Naoko Okumoto, a senior-level investment and business development executive specializing in building new business portfolios across Silicon Valley and Asia-Pacific. Thus, NIREMIA Collective was born.
In February 2021, when these powerful emerging managers started the VC Include Fellowship for BIPOC First-Time Fund Managers, they had not yet raised money for NIREMIA Collective. By the time they finished the program at the end of the year, they successfully closed $10.5MM towards their fund.
It’s A Great Time For Wellbeing Tech
The need and demand for wellbeing tech is massive. Byproducts of the COVID-19 pandemic were record-high stress and depression levels for all ages, ethnicities, and in all areas of the world. The technology sector is exploding in the huge $4.5 trillion wellness market as more and more people focus on their holistic health and accelerate consumer adoption of these tools.
Moreover, wellbeing tech is showing up in many more categories than just the health and wellbeing space. It’s also emerging in products and services involving future of work, automotive, and smart city applications to name a few.
NIREMIA Collective is primed and ready to capitalize on this strong market demand by leveraging their well-established Transformative Tech ecosystem and expertise.
How the VCI Fellowship Helped NIREMIA
“I used to work for a large VC fund,” says Naoko, “and I focused on due diligence and closing the deal. But I didn’t really have a chance to learn about the back-end – finance, taxes, all the implications to run a fund. With VCI I had the opportunity to talk to specialists and learn the knowledge and insight from them. It helped me become more knowledgeable as to what it takes to run a fund – which is a lot!”
Nichol nods in agreement with her co-GP, “I would say VCI is helping us all avoid newbie mistakes. There are so many things that a new first-time fund manager can get wrong, and you usually find out once it’s too late. From tax implications and a lot of things that are not in books. Some of the things that we learned are not in books. I know because we’ve read the books.” Both women laugh in unison.
“We were able to sit down and hear from masters, specialists, and also from fund managers that have come before,” Nichol continues, “people who have done it and have shared their mistakes with us. The amount of time, money, and effort that that saved us was so valuable. It let us get back to why we became fund managers in the first place – to bring catalytic capital to areas that we’re passionate about, which is wellbeing and human health and happiness.”
The entire VC Include team is rooting for the NIREMA Collective’s continued growth and success. We couldn’t be more impressed with these emerging managers’ incredible determination, intelligence, experience, and dedication to the greater good of humanity. We’ll be watching as their investments help transform people all over the world in the same way that Nichol was transformed by her meditation retreat all those years ago.
