Venture Capital backed Black Female Founders in the U.S. (2018)
As we continue to unpack the opportunities and gaps in access to capital for women of color and women in general, it’s important to continue a meaningful dialogue with data and to identify support for the current rising stars in the startup ecosystem in 2018 and beyond.
As shared in my memoir sharing my career journey as a woman of color catalyzing support for underrepresented startups and entrepreneurs for the last 10 years, the average Black Female Founder receives less than $36,000 in investment in the first phase of the investment process- the “friends and family” round. This round of funding is essential to surviving the first 12 months of startup ideation and building the Minimal Viable Product (MVP), and is particularly crucial for non-technical co-founders. This miniscule amount of investment is lower than any other group in the U.S., per capita (the average for white men is $1.3million).
The Robinson (+) Consulting Group team is dedicated to identifying and engaging networks that are committed to supporting women and women of color with growth capital. To that end, we’d like to share and commend the top black female founders that we found via our network and #Crunchbase, out of 23.5 million Black women in the United States, who have been able to successfully raise more than $200k in Angel and VC capital from 2015–2017.*
The listed startups focus on a range of industries, from clean energy/solar, e-commerce platforms, big data, travel, beauty and marketing optimization tools, many using cutting edge AI and ML technologies to enhance their product offerings.
Please find a list of the Top Black Female Founders below:
-Name: Sweeten
Founder: Jean Brownill Laver
Location: New York, NY
Website link: https://sweeten.com
What they are doing: Match making contractors with clients for home renovations.
Why it matters: The service also vets all general contractors to ensure that they are properly licensed and bonded.
Investments: $8.6 million
-Name: Uncharted Power
Founder: Jessica Matthews
Location: New York, New York
Website link: https://www.u-pwr.co
What they are doing: Uncharted Power creates meaningful power and problem-solving innovations through physically active play activities and micro-generator technology systems.
Why it matters: It allows users to employ play and energy technology as tools to build creative confidence and inspire attainable social and economic solutions for their own communities.
Investments: $7million
-Name: Print Syndicate
Founder: Tanisha Robinson
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Website link: http://printsyndicate.com
What they are doing: Print Syndicate interprets and converts social trends into digital designs, then market them on printed objects through the company’s multiple e-commerce brands.
Why it matters: Users receive creative product designs that reflect their company’s identity and self-expression
Investments: $5million
-Name: Mercaris
Founder: Kellee James
Website link: https://mercaris.com
Location: Silver Springs, MD
What they are doing: Mercaris is a trading platform for organic and non-GMO certified agricultural commodities that allows buyers and sellers to meet on-line and trade physical commodities.
Why it matters: The market data service provides users with up-to-date, accurate information on market conditions for organic and non-GMO commodities.
Investments: $3million
-Name: Aptdeco
Founder: Reham Fagirl
Website link: https://www.aptdeco.com
What they are doing: On-line pre-owned furniture marketplace. Buy and sell quality pre-owned furniture and pre-arrange pick-up, delivery and secure payment process.
Why it matters: User furnishing convenience.
Investments: $2.5million
-Name: Attentive.ly
Founder: Cheryl Contee
Website link: https://attentive.ly
What they are doing: Attentive.ly brings “Enterprise Listening”-level data to Social CRM and reveals the “influencers” on an email list, what topics are trending among that key audience, and who is talking about that brand (or competitors).
Why it matters: Attentive.ly shows a business or nonprofit what their email marketing list is saying on social media, so they can target messages to specific groups of people, based on interest and influence.
Investments: $1.8million
-Name: PartPic
Founder: Jewel Burks
What they are doing: PartPic is a visual recognition technology company that searches for replacement, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) parts and their specifications.
Why it matters: Users save time and money by snapping a picture of a part with a smart device and PartPic matches the user generated image with a part and associated specifications.
Investments: $1.5million — recently acquired by Amazon
-Name: PlumPerfect
Founder: Asmau Ahmed
Website link: http://www.plumperfect.com
What they are doing: Plum Perfect is an app that assesses facial features and color through their machine learning algorithms to find the best makeup shades for skin tones in less than a minute. The platform tracks where buyers live, age group, skin type, hair color, and eye color.
Why it matters: More sophisticated AI and ML processes determines which shades of cosmetics are right for users, accessing a multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry.
Investments: $1.3million
-Name: Dibs
Founder: Alicia Thomas
Location: New York, NY
Website link: https://www.ondibs.com
What they are doing: Dibs is a platform (web and app) that makes it easy for the fitness industry to maximize revenues by pricing group classes (and eventually all visits) according to real-time demand instead of charging one price across the board, similar to the pricing that airlines use.
Why it matters: Users locate studios and organize their fitness routines optimally.
Investments: $1million
-Name: Blavity
Founder: Morgan DeBaum
Website link: https://blavity.com
What they are doing: Crates content for black millennials who aren’t represented in media despite their multibillion dollar buying power. A venture-backed technology and digital media company aimed at building products and experiences that disrupt traditional models of media and putting the power back in the hands of black millennials.
Why it matters: Black millennial users own their story and share their perspectives so they can pursue the work they love and change the world in the process.
Investments and Investor Names: $1million
-Name: Ovamba
Founder: Viola Llewellyn
Website link: https://www.ovamba.com
What they are doing: Offer access to business growth support delivered via mobile phone and the ability to analyze real-time risk in Africa, based on traditional and cultural knowledge from on-the-ground teams.
Why it matters: Entrepreneur users in Africa and the Middle East are empowered with access to needed finance and growth support in order to flourish their businesses.
Investment: $1million
-Name: Mented
Founders: Amanda Johnson and KJ Miller
Website link: https://www.mentedcosmetics.com
What they are doing: Mented is an e-commerce site for vegan, non-toxic nude lipsticks particularly suited to women of color
Why it matters: Black and brown woman are able buy cruelty-free lipsticks that complement their skin color.
Investments: $1million
-Name: Cosign*
Founder: Esosa Ighodars
Location: New York, NY
Website link: http://www.cosign.co
What they are doing: CoSign is a software platform that allows users and brands to browse and tag products within social media images to make them shopable.
Why it matters: CoSign’s proprietaty ML/AI algorithms allow beauty and fashion focused Consumer Product companies, influencers and stylists to make their branded content easily shopable through their social media channels.
Investments: $750k
-Tastemakers Africa*
Founder: Cherae Robinson
Location: NYC/Johannesburg, SA
Website Link: www.tastemakersafrica.com
What they are doing: This travel-booking app is changing the way travelers think of travel in Africa, through local tour experiences designed by expert local influencers.
Why it matters: Most travelers outside of the African continent have been swayed by the “Dark Continent” narrative, while many African cities boast top tier, cosmopolitan hotels, restaurants and tour experiences outside of safaris. This app gives travelers safe and vetted insider experiences in the top 5 tourist destinations in Africa.
Investments: $450k
-Name: KeepUpApp
Founder: Lauren Washington
Location: Buffalo, NY
Website link: https://www.keepupapp.com
What they are doing: KeepUp is a design and market a productivity tool that scrapes conversations and pulls out the most important events that may not have been self-reported or have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Why it matters: KeepUp’s mission is to make social media simpler for businesses and everyday users. Users have greater control of their social media presence and avoid missing-out on a birthday, anniversary or special event.
Investment: $250k
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I am hopeful that list is incomplete. If you know of more startups that need to be on this list, please feel free to add startup names/links to this list in the comments below, and also direct any high growth, female founders to our startup database, which will enable us to continue to track and share data on high growth, high potential female led startups and allow us to do more targeted outreach and advocacy within our network of investors and accelerators.
Lastly, we’d love to invite any serious investors to the Black Women Talk Tech 2018 Conference taking place in February at the Microsoft NYC headquarters. For any investors that would like an invite to the invite-only, VIP reception co-hosted by Robinson (+) and LOEB NYC, please let us know.
This is an exciting and pivotal time for investing in women and women of color, who are more than capable to building and growing businesses that address key market gaps and set future growth trends globally. With collective effort, we’d like to increase the number of Black Female Founders who have raised more over $1million. Out of 23.5 million, that seems like a reasonable goal.
- Full Disclosure: The Black Women Talk Tech Conference, Tastemakers Africa and CoSign are clients of the Robinson (+) Consulting Group.
*Thank you for the feedback and additional founder info being shared with our team. This list is growing, which was the intention! We’re excited to receive more startup info and background, as more acquisitions and new female led startups become profitable and investable. For a much more detailed and comprehensive outline of Black Female Founders, Digital Undivided is a great resource!
