Despite the amount of content being created, there’s still a lack of characters to represent people of color. Black Sands Entertainment was created by Manuel and Geiszel Godoy to change this. The media company featured on Shark Tank and got a deal with Mark Cuban and Kevin Hart. Currently, the business is worth an estimated $2.5 million.
The Founders
Manuel Godoy is an indie publishing mogul from Middletown, Delaware. He was a BBA student at Queens College and is an army veteran. It was in the military that he met the love of his life, Geiszel Godoy.
Geiszel hails from New York City. She has a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design from the San Diego Art Institute and a master’s degree in Management from Faulkner University.
After the army, Geiszel was a freelance Technical Designer at Calvin Klein. The couple hired Teunis de Raat to be their Head of Studio. He has over 25 years experience in the industry, having worked for the likes of Disney and Pixar.
Founding Black Sands Entertainment
The Godoy duo are passionate about writing stories for Black people, especially about their lives before slavery. This was what pushed Manuel to start Black Sands Entertainment in 2016.
The couple saved up money for the first project, a video game called Kids 2 Kings, which flopped. Later on, Manuel and Geiszel hired Teunis to help them produce new content, with a focus on comic books. They raised $20,000 from Kickstarter to start printing copies.
As their stories gained more fame, the startup was able to raise a $1 million from Wefunder in 2020. The following year, their lifetime book sales hit $1.66 million.
Shark Tank Appearance
In 2022, Manuel, Geiszel, and Teunis were confident that their intellectual property could take their business to the next level. They appeared on season 13 of Shark Tank, seeking $500,000 for 5%. The valuation got a chuckle from Kevin O’Leart right off the bat.
After a strong introduction, they showed the Sharks a snippet of the animated show they wanted to release. The company sales were progressing nicely, starting with $40,000 in 2017 and had $800,000 in revenue year-to-date at the time of the pitch.
The Sharks were intrigued by the opportunity, but it was guest investor Kevin Hart who showed the most interest. In the end, Kevin Hart and Mark Cuban agreed to invest $500,000 for 30%. Cuban and Hart took a big chunk of equity, promising to help out with distribution and technology.
After Shark Tank
Although Black Sands was already rising in popularity, the exposure from Shark Tank has been huge for the company. Black Sands has been featured in publications such as Publishers Weekly and New York Comic Con.
You can buy their comic books in bundles on their website, BlackSandsEntertainment.com. Some of the solo releases are also available to buy on Amazon. Their best-rated book “Black Sands, The Seven Kingdoms,” has a 4.9-star rating from 883 reviews on Amazon.
Black Sands has done $3 million in lifetime sales in roughly eight years. The media company has raised over $2.15 million on WeFunder from 5,126 investors. Since the show, they’ve also released a podcast and an app to help black creators reach a larger audience.
Their $2.5 million valuation could explode if they become successful in the animation space but it will be expensive. Teunis de Raat left the company in April 2022 and is now an independent producer.
