Business accelerator Endeavor Atlanta has chosen five companies to participate in its second cohort of ScaleUp ATL — a program for Black founders to help grow their companies.
Local investors and later-stage entrepreneurs, including Salesloft CEO Kyle Porter and Atlanta Ventures CEO David Cummings, serve as mentors to the participating founders on scaling their product, customer acquisition, pitch practice and fundraising.
The seven-month program provides guidance on growth strategies and product development to seed to series A companies who have found a product-market fit.
The goal of the program is to improve access for Black entrepreneurs in the community to the right mentors, capital and talent into their companies which in turn boosts inclusive economic growth, Aaron Hurst, managing director of Endeavor Atlanta, told the Atlanta Business Chronicle last year.
“A lot of founders want executive coaching with one-on-one mentorship that is structured in personal growth,” said Rachel Kazungu, manager of ScaleUp operations at Endeavor. “Because they’re busy, they forget about themselves as they’re scaling, and sometimes they really overlook important stuff like management style.”
Following last year's class, Tracey Pickett, founder of rain hat startup Hairbrella, scored a partnership with designer Steve Madden.
The organization received 15 applications for the cohort this year, an increase from the 11 received the previous year. Applicants were required to show strong year-over-year growth, a team of employees and a minimum revenue of $250,000. Founders who go through the cohort also sign a pledge that they will continue to support the local Endeavor office as well as continue to invest in the business ecosystem they originated from.
Founded in 1997, Endeavor is a global nonprofit with offices in 42 markets. The organization aims to select and support high-growth businesses in geographies outside of established tech hubs such as Silicon Valley or New York City. In 2017, Hurst opened the Atlanta office for Endeavor.
Here are the selected companies for 2022:
Derrick Barker and Brittany Mosely, Nectar
Founded last April, Nectar is a marketplace meant for businesses with real estate income streams. On the platform, experienced Airbnb hosts can scale by selling part of their future income in exchange for liquidity upfront. Investors can also purchase income streams operated by professional Airbnb hosts. Prior to Nectar, Barker worked as a principal at real estate company DOMOS Coliving, and Mosely is still an Airbnb superhost. Nectar was also one of Atlanta Inno's 22 Startups to Watch in 2022.
Julius Bryant, Jax Rideshare
Founded in July 2019, Jax Rideshare is an online marketplace for renting affordable vehicles. People can book a vehicle for two days and extend their rental period for as long as they need. Bryant previously worked as a senior marketing analytics manager at Amazon.com Inc.
Dana Weeks, MedTrans Go Inc.
MedTrans Go is a marketplace for the transportation of non-emergency medical patients, aiming to reduce the burden for health care providers of canceled appointments. The platform enables patients to book services they require by using the excess capacity of transportation providers. Weeks previously worked as president of the Black Angel Tech Foundation.
Otwan Lowery, PreciseGrants
PreciseGrants allows nonprofits to streamline fiscal operations to be in compliance with government and private funders. Lowery previously worked as director of nonprofit OJL Biz Kidz Inc., which teaches entrepreneurship to minority youth.
David Hailey, Countifi
Countifi assists businesses' inventory counts by using computer vision and machine learning to automatically catalog items through photos. The company looks to grow into the healthcare space after already making ground in the airline industry. Hailey previously worked as a general manager at Delta Air Lines Inc.
