KEY INSIGHTS:
- The 2023 Black Tech Effect report has exposed an entire crop of Black tech companies to people who were not previously familiar with them.
- This report is intended to also go beyond just exposure and be a jumping-off point for the audience to dig deeper.
- It also provides a particular opportunity for journalists and researchers to look beyond stories from a deficit lens and more towards a solutions lens.
In January, The Plug released a first-of-its-kind report detailing 100 high-growth, Black-led technology companies and founders making a significant impact in their industries and communities.
In just three weeks, The 2023 Black Tech Effect report has exposed an entire crop of Black tech companies to people who were not previously familiar with them.
“We’ve gotten so much positive feedback like ‘Oh, my gosh, I didn’t even know that these existed. I didn’t know anything about these companies. Oh, I didn’t know Black people were in climate.’ So it got people thinking, it got people exploring, learning more about these Black founders,” Tayler James, Director of Research at The Plug, said.
But this report is intended to also go beyond just exposure and be a jumping-off point for the audience to dig deeper into the companies listed, those founders and the Black tech ecosystem as a whole.
It provides a particular opportunity for journalists and researchers to look beyond stories from a deficit lens and more towards a solutions lens. These are companies and founders who are doing the work and making a difference.
“We hear about all of the Black founders that are doing great work within the consumer-facing space — like products, skincare, fashion — but we’re always hearing the deficit stories of Black professionals in tech,” James said.
The 100 companies are broken down into eight categories: HBCU Founder, Woman Founder, Veteran Founder, Social Impact, Unicorn Status, International, Legacy, and Up and Coming.
Nearly half of the 100 companies are in fintech, clean tech, technology, media and telecommunications or artificial intelligence and machine learning. On average, the companies on the list have been in operation for seven years. Reporters covering any of those industries can easily find new companies to explore through this report.
The Black Tech Effect report also offers baseline information for researchers looking at companies across the different industries and raises important questions they can look into on the Black tech industry, James said: How can the industry continue to evolve? What tools, assets or data do Black founders and future entrepreneurs need in order to move the needle and be successful?
“It is our job to continue to really dive in to ensure that we’re covering all of our bases and as researchers, this could entice them to find solutions to those types of questions,” James said.
