An Update To The Black Tech Directory In Time For Black Business Month

Readers of The Plug’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

EXECONLINE 

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+

SHOTTRACKER 

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+

CAREER KARMA

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

UPSWING

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+

ZIRTUE

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+

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

Monica Melton

Monica Melton is the managing editor of The Plug Insights. She previously covered innovation, technology, and venture capital at Forbes. She has also covered politics at POLITICO, entertainment for Time Out New York, but her most fascinating beat has been covering the intersection of technology, finance, and entrepreneurship. She is an alumna of CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and the University of Washington.