Resilia's Sevetri Wilson Makes History With The Largest Raise Ever For A Solo Black Female-Founded Tech Company

On Oct. 27, the SaaS platform announced its $35 million Series B funding round — making it the largest raise ever for a solo Black female-founded tech company — according to a press release shared with AfroTech.

What’s more, the new funding marks the largest VC raise of a female founder in the state of Louisiana.

Nearly two years ago, Resilia’s Series A round of $8 million was the first time Wilson made her mark in her state, as previously reported by AfroTech.

“I’ve grown tremendously as a founder,” Wilson shared with AfroTech. “I’ve settled into my role as a leader of a scaling company and every day I think about how I can become the best version of myself personally and professionally.  There’s also more pressure but I’ve learned that this is part of growing a company especially when investors have put a significant amount of money and ‘faith’ behind you.”

“Furthermore, I’m more inclined to focus on what truly matters and not get so buried in the things that don’t,” she continued. “It’s my full plan to take this mindset into the new year and beyond. As you grow and scale your business, there’s an entirely new language you have to learn.”

The funding round was co-led by Panoramic Ventures and Framework Venture Partners. Participants also included returning investors such as Mucker Capital, Callais Capital, Cultivation Capital, Engage Ventures, SoftBank Group’s SB Opportunity Fund, Kimble Ventures, The Jump Fund, and Fearless Fund, as well as new investors that include the Goldman Sachs Asset Management Fund, Chloe Capital, Gaingels, Mana Ventures, and more.

The investors are co-signers of Resilia’s mission to democratize philanthropy, fuel nonprofit capacity, and provide more seats at the table.

“We’ve had investors, such as Mucker Capital, where our Series B marks the third time they’ve invested in the company,” she shared. “I’m really proud of this because it signals that something is working and shows our existing investors’ commitment to the company and that they see the vision as I do. Bringing on new investors and board members I have to learn preferences quickly and try to build a bridge so that we can work in harmony together. Selecting the right new investors was really important to me because we had a couple of different options. Ultimately, I went with the investors I felt were ready to roll up their sleeves and work alongside me as strong advisors to the company. Additionally, we are moving into payments and donations, so I also wanted an investor that was strong in fintech.”

The historic raise for the New Orleans startup is set to scale its technology platform, bring in more North American organizations, as well as “further help nonprofits increase their day-to-day capacity and funders scale impact through resources that extend beyond just a monetary grant,” the press release details.

Since launching in 2017, Resilia continues to further expand. While building in New Orleans and New York City, the company recently opened in Mexico City, where it’s hiring R&D team members, mostly engineers, per Wilson. Additionally, the founder shared with us her excitement over the upcoming launch of Resilia’s payments offering and the enhancements of its Academy for on-demand training and coaching for customers. 

To learn more about Resilia, click here.