Steven Bartlett鈥檚 former business partner, Oliver Yonchev, has announced his new venture has secured a seven-figure exit in just eight months.
Yonchev left digital marketing and communications company Flight Story last September, which he鈥檇 co-founded with聽the聽Dragons鈥� Den聽star three years earlier.
He then joined forces with ex-Social Chain board member Paul Stevens; James Lawson Baker, founder and CEO of G-Force Media; and James Whittaker to launch cocreatd, a venture studio for the marketing and creative industries.
Now cocreatd鈥檚 first venture, System7.ai, has been acquired by Vault PLC for a seven-figure fee.
Yonchev explained: 鈥淚n November 2024 Nicolas Baxter and cocreated set out on a simple mission together: help marketing and sales teams use AI.
鈥淲hat followed was all the normal startup pain… relentless work, late nights, building, shipping, testing and supporting some very cool partners.
鈥淟ast month, Brian Stockbridge, chairman of Vault PLC, shared his vision for the new company.
鈥淗e said 鈥榯he convergence of AI and blockchain is a future worth building鈥�.
鈥淔rom that conversation, we knew the fit was perfect, and we had to join forces.
鈥淗onestly, we鈥檙e so proud of what Nic has achieved in such a short time – and now with this new partnership, we have no doubt he’ll have an even more exciting future with Vault.鈥�
Yonchev said cocreatd鈥檚 first exit was a 鈥榯rue validation鈥� of its approach.
鈥淕ive top talent a worthy mission, provide true co-founder support (not just investment), and then back that with a community of others on a similar journey, and you can achieve unthinkable things,鈥� he said.
鈥淔rom idea to seven-figure sale in several months. That’s definitely unthinkable territory.鈥�
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Yonchev started his career on a BBC graduate programme before moving to Bauer Media.
He eventually joined Social Chain, which was co-founded by Bartlett and Dominic McGregor.
Bartlett bought聽 Yonchev’s 150,000 shares when he exited Flight Story.