A group of Black women is passing the torch to another group of Black women to push founders who like them to the forefront, and we love to see it.
In a press release provided to AfroTech, it was announced that Black Women Talk Tech (BWTT) has acquired Minneapolis-based community organization and pre-accelerator, Black Female Founders (#BFF).
“Our communities overlapped so the acquisition made sense to bring more resources and connections to more Black women founders. We’ve known Erin Horne McKinney for years and before this acquisition, she’s always been a big supporter of Black Women Talk Tech,” BWTT said in a statement provided exclusively to AfroTech.
BWTT boasts a worldwide collective of Black women tech founders who understand the challenges faced by their own as they navigate the industry while affirming the value of innovation each founder brings to the table. And, the merger plans to strengthen that even further.
“We are all about collaboration and this partnership adds to debunking the myth that Black women don’t work well together. By joining forces we can do more – so we are thrilled to be able to reach a wider audience,” Regina Gwynn, co-founder of BWTT said, according to a press release.
Acquisition Will Amplify Support For Black Women Founders
Black Women Talk Tech has built a community of over 1,000 Black women founders and allies, landed $250,000 into the hands of startups, and produced over 150 hours of business-focused video content. Their impact will only grow stronger with the newly announced acquisition.
Since its launch in 2015 by Erin Horne McKinney, Sibyl Edwards, and Melissa Bradley, #BFF has continuously expressed its support for Black women-led startups in the form of awareness, promotion, support, and resources. Two years after its launch, #BFF launched its 10-week pre-accelerator program #BFF Labs, created for Black women-led tech-enabled and tech-adjacent early-stage businesses. The accelerator program provided opportunities to build knowledge on customer traction, idea validation, and pitch practice, and more.
BWTT’s acquisition will uphold a portion of #BFF’s curriculum for its Black Students Talk Tech initiative — an educational program designed for Historically Black College & University (HBCU) entrepreneurs and technologists.
How Will #BFF Members Benefit?
Thanks to the acquisition, #BFF members can look forward to a free membership on the BWTT platform accompanied by a six-month complimentary membership, typically valued at $150.
“Black women have been innovators and trailblazers throughout history. We predict that we are on the verge of seeing a significant rise in successful Black female founders in tech, and being acquired by Black Women Talk Tech provides our community with the additional resources and access needed by our entrepreneurs to build billion-dollar companies,” Founder and Chief Executive Officer of #BFF, Erin Horne McKinney, said in a press release.
