10 startups have been selected to join the first cohort of Geekz Ventures, a pre-accelerator program designed for minority founders bringing their tech ideas to life.
The program, which kicks off on March 14, will help founders with an Equity-free grant, mentoring, and resources for moving their business to the next level.
While the founder Kunbi Tinuoye is in Atlanta, the virtual accelerator and has brought in founders from around the country. Former WeWork Enablement executive Brandon Wilkins will serve as the program manager for the inaugural Geekz Ventures cohort.
Let’s meet the startups!
Lyricster – Founder: Summer “Soulstress” Williams
Industry: MusicTech
Lyricster is a collaboration matching app and social network for music creators. We are the solution to organic discovery, networking and relationships building for songwriters, producers and composers around the world.
Spawnn – Co-founders: Buchi Obi and Will Hollingsworth
Industry: AI
Spawnn is an AI highlight reel detection and data analysis platform for gamers. By finding gamers’ most viral moments, we are focused on building for the over 1 billion people that watch video gaming content every day.
ALIVE Podcast Network – Founder: Angel Livas
Industry: MediaTech
Consider us the black Spotify for podcasts. We educate our hosts, entertain our listeners all while building a robust interface to interact and engage with the hosts you love. We’re the media tech company that’s helping black content creators monetize their content, amplify their voice, all while maintaining ownership of their IP.
Seed At The Table – Founder: Pierre Le Veaux
Industry: Finance
Seed At The Table is a tech-enabled Financial Ecosystem operating as an LLC (not a fund) that’s committed to providing its community of diverse professionals and entrepreneurs with equitable access to capital, opportunity, and resources. Seed At The Table LLC, provides three primary solutions in the form of access to a resource-rich and affinity-aligned network, financial literacy education, and capital access.
Hayti – Founder: Cary Wheelous
Industry: MediaTech
Hailing from North Carolina, Hayti is the largest Black-owned app that aggregates digital content from newspapers, magazines, videos, and podcasts highlighting content from Black content creators around the world. Hayti is the first mobile app to feature over 200+ Black publishers and over 1,000 Black Podcasters on both Android and iOS. Hayti provides a unique opportunity for Black content creators to access, retain and monetize millions of mobile users that are hard to reach and enables them to share their content with friends and family across social media.
visuEats – Founder: Sophronia McKenzie
Industry: Restaurant Tech
visuEats is a restaurant web and mobile app that provides photo and video menus creating an interactive and personalized dining experience. visuEats’ turnkey solution offers the restaurant industry a digital menu with reservations, online ordering, and delivery within one platform.
Animteam – Founder: Victor Williamson
Industry: Animation Software
Animteam is the first collaborative editing app for traditional 2D frame-by-frame animation. Animators can paint digitally, animate on a timeline and collaborate in real-time on their animated projects.
The Barter Shop – Founder: Shanice Brown
Industry: Commerce
The Barter Shop mobile app is a revolutionary marketplace that empowers small businesses and individuals to thrive in times of need. Our platform allows users to exchange services without the need for money, creating a micro-economy that is community-focused and inclusive. By connecting small business owners and individuals to the skills and services they need, we are unlocking the potential of our communities and creating a more prosperous future.
InColorStock – Founder: Claritza Jimenez
Industry: MediaTech
InColorStock’s membership-based model enables photographers to directly showcase their work to brands and companies looking to license racially diverse and culturally accurate stock content that gets it right.
PrimoStats – Founder: Shayla Price
Industry: MarTech
PrimoStats is a searchable database of curated marketing statistics. We help content marketers find and cite relevant statistics to add credibility to their content. That way, content marketers can work smarter, not harder.
Congrats to all those accepted into the first cohort for Geekz Ventures!
