Durham-based black-led startup SpokeHub announced to WRAL TechWire last week that after closing its second seed round, it has raised $2 million. And most of those funds were raised by black investors.
“This is huge. The message is there are some impactful and very intentional African-American investors across the country,” said Richard Berryman III, one of the SpokeHub founders.
When asked about the investors, the company confirmed that investors were both local and from out-of-town.
With the money invested, SpokeHub can now focus on growth, although the team didn’t disclose exactly how they intended to use the newly acquired funds.
The app provides a place for users to have real conversations with people who care about the topics that are important to them. They can join or create different “hubs” and connect with like-minded people. On the flip side, SpokeHub also allows businesses to have access to real-time feedback on their products or services through their “Platform on Demand” offering.
SpokeHub was launched in December of 2017, and their unique augmented reality and video features were added months after the initial launch. They claim to be the first social platform to incorporate such tech natively into its app.
Their story is an inspiring one — from the diversity worked into the DNA of the company to the innovation of their product. And the fact that this is a company finding this kind of success outside of Silicon Valley should inspire even more founders and entrepreneurs to get after their big ideas.
