First Boulevard enjoyed a big year in 2021: It nearly doubled its employee base and raised $15 million in the third quarter.
"It was exciting," founder and CEO Donald Hawkins said of the funding. "It was recognizing that capital partners understood the business model and the opportunity that was in front of us. Typically, underserved entrepreneurs aren't able to secure this type of capital, and with Black America being underserved for so long, we see this as a great opportunity for us to take the at-bat that we're going after and build big solutions."
Although the Overland Park-based neobank is open to all, it's focused on building solutions tailored for the Black community that can break down the barriers of financial disparity and help them build generational wealth.
Beefing up
First Boulevard is using the funding primarily to build out its team. Hawkins anticipates that the startup will double its headcount this year to keep up with a burgeoning customer base and manage new features. It employs 35 full-time employees, plus 36 contractors, and plans to fill roles in mid- to senior director-level positions in engineering, product, marketing and operations. They'll contribute to building a solid foundation so First Boulevard can scale.
"We feel people are the most important ingredient to what it is we're building inside of the company," Hawkins said.
First Boulevard is in beta mode with customers and plans to make its offering more widely available later this year. The amount of customer engagement in its services and their feedback has exceeded expectations and is helping First Boulevard identify what features to build next.
Some of the neobank's current perks include early access to paychecks, no minimum balance requirements and access to more than 50,000 ATMs nationwide. The app also includes a personal finance management tool and just-in-time financial education, which helps users track budgets and financial goals in real time.
This year, First Boulevard is focused on attracting more customers and building solutions that help users reach financial goals.
Meeting the mission
For Hawkins, working toward the company's mission of helping others build generational wealth is fulfilling.
"I stand on the shoulders of giants," he said. "I'm always in awe of the things that we as a community are able to do now, but I also fully recognize that we're only in that position because of the actions and sacrifice that people before us have made."
Hawkins cited individuals such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman. His parents also paved the way for him and his sisters to attend college. But there's still work to do.
"We live in a country where it is painfully obvious how Black America has been treated," Hawkins said. "Statistics clearly show where things stand from even just a financial perspective. ... When you think about finances, we start off in a hole in most cases. Things simply are not fair. We're also the nation's most indebted community and one of the nation's most underpaid communities. So how do you build and reach the American dream when you're in debt? ... How do we build wealth with all of those different things stacked against us? That's something that we are focused on doing our part to help solve."
