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Tech Companies, let’s grow!

2020 saw new challenges that many of us have never faced before. Part of these new challenges offered new solutions that required innovation and outside-the-box thinking. At the forefront of this is the tech industry.

Thanks to a report done by Crunchbase. A record $137 Billion was invested into startups in the first half of 2021 alone. Sadly amongst that number, only 1.2% went into startups led by black entrepreneurs. This report was put together by Crunchbase over 1,393 contributors. The contributors are made up of Crunchbase Venture Program Partners, tech-journalists, Crunchbase’s data management team, and venture capitalists themselves. The Crunchbase researchers also added that Black entrepreneurs in the U.S raised nearly $1.8 Billion in the first half of 2021.

Within the decade tech companies have been scouting the city of Atlanta for its brightest and best. Atlanta has seen numerous startups within the last few years. Georgia also takes the cake with the highest record of funding with 8.4% of the venture funding going to founders of color. Georgia has become a hotspot for the industry with Silicon Valley and other high-profile companies now recruiting out of Atlanta.

Crunchbase’s senior data journalist provided ZDNET with some insight on this report,

“There is an increased interest and awareness around issues of racial justice in the venture world. Some positive signs are that more Black-led firms and funds have invested in Black and other underrepresented startup founders, more Black investors at traditional firms are being promoted to partner level, and a greater percentage of VC funding to Black startup founders is going into early-stage rounds, several of which have been quite large.”

Despite these disadvantages, Black startups have still been providing crazy numbers in funding. 1.2% is an increase from last year as black startups in 2020 raised approximately $1 Billion. The field for diverse and black-run tech companies is growing with expediency. The next step is getting these companies the materials to help support them.

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Startups

Is the Next Billion Dollar Company in South LA?

Multicultural millennial consumers are one of the fastest growing segments of the population across the United States of America and they are engaged with technology like never before. And they are the ‘super consumers’—young, connected, culturally aware and socially active—notes the trends report State of Technology and Culture: Culture A$ Currency released by venture capital firm Cross Culture Ventures.

As the
 U.S. population shifts and becomes more and more diverse, founders who take an inclusive approach in serving this market are poised launch the next billion-dollar companies. Founders with this mindset can not only realize revenue, but also affect change, unlocking new markets and opportunities and influencing global culture and trends. And with the right support, strategy, and execution, the next billion-dollar startup can most certainly bloom in South LA.

Startups who see the data showing that 86{5be84514e8f68b2a600bba95dc743ad17e8b7c13eea9b1550b2859fef5fde271} of Latinos, 76{5be84514e8f68b2a600bba95dc743ad17e8b7c13eea9b1550b2859fef5fde271} of Blacks, and 88{5be84514e8f68b2a600bba95dc743ad17e8b7c13eea9b1550b2859fef5fde271} of Asians are early adopters and heavy consumers are beginning to create products with specific use cases in multicultural markets. From deeply multicultural-focused beauty lines like the Rihanna-founded Fenty (whose groundbreaking 40 shades of foundation saw its darkest hues sell out in a flash) to financial services and beyond, there is still plenty of room for upstarts to shake things up.

See Cross Culture Ventures founder and managing partner Marlon Nichols discuss where these opportunities are, how to leverage them, and connect with the ‘super consumer’ population during the Urban Tech Connect segment Culture as Currency: The Next Billion-Dollar Company, alongside Ignition Factory founder Chris Denson on May 17, 2018, in Los Angeles. Get your tickets now.

Nielsen study the Multicultural Edge reports that multicultural consumers, the fastest growing segment in the United States, total more than 120 million and are increasing by 2.3 million per year. The growth engine of the future in the U.S. Hispanics, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and other multiculturals comprise 38{5be84514e8f68b2a600bba95dc743ad17e8b7c13eea9b1550b2859fef5fde271} of the U.S. population right now, with Census projections logging multicultural populations as the numeric majority by 2044. The addition of a MENA category for people of Middle Eastern or North African descent (who are currently identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as NHWhite) on the 2020 decennial census is under review, and could potentially change the date of the majority-minority tipping point, Nielsen said.