How Donnovan Andrews Is Building Aivanta Around AI And Belonging

"Donnovan Andrews has spent his career in industries where the rules keep shifting - from the early days of digital to today's algorithm-shaped media landscape. His latest move sits right in the middle of that change. He's building Aivanta, an AI-powered holding company designed to acquire businesses with strong foundations and help them scale by embedding AI into how they operate."

"But Andrews is clear that the point isn't to automate away what makes those businesses matter. "Where there's people, there's power," he said. "We want to be an organization that brings together people in the gatherings of live events. AI will not change that." Aivanta's first acquisitions are Brand Storytelling and Elevate, two established convenings focused on long-form branded content and the leaders shaping how brands show up in entertainment and culture."

"Andrews traces his drive back to his family story. "Everything comes from me from immigrant experience," he said. "I was born here, my family's from Jamaica." For him, that background translates into an operator's instinct: don't wait for permission, build with what you have, and make the work prove itself. It's a mindset that shaped his early years inside major agencies like DDB Needham and Deutsch in New York - and it also shaped the decision to leave."

""The real opportunity for me was probably not going to be within the walls of those institutions," he said. At 25, he started his own agency from his bedroom on the Lower East Side and grew it into a business serving clients including American Express, Coca-Cola, ESPN, and Financial Times. After the dot-com crash, when confidence in the internet collapsed, he stayed in. "We didn't give up," he said. "We knew that the internet was going to change everything.""

Aivanta is an AI-powered holding company that acquires established businesses and embeds AI into operations to help them scale while maintaining human-centered live gatherings. The company focuses on convening high-caliber leaders and using technology to make connections smarter, faster, and more personal. Aivanta's first acquisitions, Brand Storytelling and Elevate, concentrate on long-form branded content and leaders shaping brand presence in entertainment and culture. Founder Donnovan Andrews draws on an immigrant family background and an operator's instinct to build lean, pursue outcomes, and preserve the role of people in live events despite increased AI use.

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