Readers of The Plug’s weekly briefing will likely recognize many of the companies that have been added to the Black Tech Directory. New entrants include the Black-led tech companies we featured each week in our Startups to Watch segment.
In February, we published the Black Tech Directory to highlight software as a service companies led by Black founders. Now, at the start of August, we’ve updated our directory to include more Black-led tech companies that are on our radar and investor’s to commemorate Black Business Month.
The founders in our directory are represented across industries from social media, financial services, enterprise management and beyond. We’ve found a unique cohort of founders presenting creative solutions in their industries. Many of the companies we have featured are bucking the failing funding trend among Black founders and are raising rounds of venture capital if not creating new pathways forward with alternative funding.
Here are the companies on our list who have raised some of the largest funding rounds.
ILLUMEN CAPITAL
Website: illumencapital.com
Headquarters: Oakland, CA
What it is: An impact fund working to increase racial and gender equity across financial markets.
Who runs it: Daryn Dodson
How much raised: $88 million
Number of employees: 4
…
Website: www.execonline.com
Headquarters: New York, NY
What it is: An online executive coaching and training platform.
Who runs it: Stephen Bailey
How much raised: $87 million
Number of Employees: 50+
…
Website: https://shottracker.com
Headquarters: Merriam, KS
What it is: A wearables company and digital platform designed to improve athletic performance by capturing real-time statistical data.
Who runs it: Davyeon Ross and Bruce Ianni
How much raised: $40 million
Number of Employees: 37
…
MEROXa
Website: meroxa.com
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
What it is: A real-time data as a service platform for data engineers.
Who runs it: DeVaris Brown and Ali Hamidi
How much raised: $19.1 Million
Number of Employees: 26
…
THINKNUM
Website: https://www.thinknum.com/
Headquarters: New York City, NY
What it is: A web monitoring, data and insights platform for investors.
Who runs it: Gregory Ugwi and Justin Zhen
How much raised: $12.6 Million
Number of Employees: 32
…
NEX CUBED
Website: nex3.com/hbcu
Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
What it is: An organization working with HBCU-alum founders to foster entrepreneurship in tech.
Who runs it: Marlon Evans
How much raised: $12.4 million
Number of Employees: 10+
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Website: https://careerkarma.com
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
What it is: A career advice, upskilling and training platform.
Who runs it: Ruben Harris
How much raised: $12 million
Number of Employees: 50
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Website: https://upswing.io/
Headquarters: Austin, TX
What it is: An ai-enabled tutoring and student services platform for diverse and non-traditional students.
Who runs it: Melvin Hines, Alex Pritchett and Chris Webb
How much raised: $11 Million
Number of Employees: 10+
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Website: zirtue.com
Headquarters: Dallas, TX
What it is: A peer-to-peer relationship lending platform.
Who runs it: Dennis Cail
How much raised: $4 million
Number of Employees: 10+
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PACKAGE PORTAL
Website: packageportal.com
Headquarters: Phoenix, AZ
What it is: A Saas platform that incentives consumers to rate their delivery customer service and provide insights to brands.
Who runs it: J.G. Whitley and Gabriel Chaney
How much raised: $2 million
Number of Employees: 4
View the full database below