Bootup raises $2.1 million dollar seed round from all Black investors

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Dreams of a Black Tech Street are just beginning to sprout as Founder and CEO Chandler Malone’s tech startup ‘Bootup’ raises $2.1 million in seed-round from all Black investors.

Since launching its first product in July ‘21 Bootup has grown rapidly, increasing revenue 100% month over month from July through November to a seven-figure run rate, while developing relationships with over 80 employers and 125 tech training programs, and placing over 330 people into their first jobs in tech for over $23M in annualized salaries.

Bootup helps enterprises fill their talent pipeline problems by getting them more comfortable sourcing and hiring non-traditionally trained talent while helping individuals increase their economic mobility through access to the right training programs and high-paying tech jobs.

Malone’s company has placed candidates at some of the largest and best-paying companies in the world including Microsoft, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Dell Technologies, and many others.

Chandler Malone’s Tech Start Story

In January of 2020, Malone moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, known for Black Wall Street – a once thriving Black entrepreneurial hub. Now, he works to inspire local Black entrepreneurs in a city that, 100 years ago, experienced the worst attack and destruction against Black economic progress in the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Malone is also a staunch supporter of the Black Tech Street movement. It’s a rebirth of Black Wall Street as America’s new Black tech and investment hub that catalyzes Black people to embrace tech as a means to build wealth and impact the world.

Currently, in the tech space, there is a 2-5 million person talent gap. Nevertheless, this industry is projected to grow to over 85 million by 2030. To solve the decline, Malone is laser-focused on using Bootup not only as a solution to the tech talent pipeline problem.

Swelling the tech gap, the lion’s share of people entering the industry comes from colleges and universities, which have enrolled 3 million fewer people every year than a decade ago.

“It is an incredible privilege to be able to use capital in such a powerful way. By solving one of the largest business problems of this decade, we are simultaneously providing economic opportunity to millions who had previously been excluded,” Malone shares.

Meanwhile, Malone, also, says the Black wealth gap is continuing to increase with the passage of time. He sees using Bootup as a method to closing opportunity and wealth inequality between Blacks and their counterparts.

Dream Team of Black Investors

Malone is excited about the opportunity to return significant capital to his all-Black team of seed investors. The dream team includes: Lightship Capital, Kapor Capital, Base Ventures, Concrete Rose Capital, Aaron Samuels of Blavity, Pryce Adade Yebesi of Utopia Labs, and David Fatoki of the Golden State Warriors organization.

“I’m thankful for all of the individuals, customers, and investors who have trusted us thus far and excited to stay in touch with so many more people in the coming years.”

Malone is also thrilled to watch how that capital is reinvested in future founders of color. He, also, hopes Bootup serves as a catalyst to build more Black wealth over the coming decade.

Lastly, Chandler Malone plans to continue ongoing conversations with mentors and investors Candice and Brian Brackeen, Managing Partners of Lightship Capital. He hopes more investors follow their lead in closing the funding racial gap.

Tyrance Billingsley is a born and raised Tulsan entrepreneur, ecosystem builder and community leader. He is the founder of Black Tech Street, an initiative to rebirth Black Wall Street as a Black tech capital and catalyze a global movement that sees Black people embrace technology as a means to build wealth and impact the world. Tyrance has been featured in Forbes, CNN, Blavity, the Wall Street Journal and more. He was recently named to the inaugural For(bes) the Culture 50 Champions list that highlights 50 Black and Brown people in the US who are working to uplift their communities.