When St. Louis-based startup Bold Xchange in 2018 launched its online marketplace, which sells items from Black-owned businesses, it had a narrow approach. It modeled its business after online retailer Etsy, offering apparel and accessories for sale to consumers.
“It just kind of fell flat,” Danielle Deavens, co-founder and co-CEO, said of Bold Xchange's beta launch.
In 2020, Bold Xchange relaunched its marketplace. Once again, it kept its focus on items for consumers, but it soon noticed sales coming in from companies. Following that cue, it shifted to a business-to-business model, which today accounts for more than 90% of its sales.
“We made a conscious choice in the last six months or so to really cater toward the B2B route,” said Doug Spencer, co-founder and co-CEO.
The move to B2B sales received a big assist last year from St. Louis’ largest company: Clayton-based managed care giant Centene Corp.
Centene tasked Bold Xchange with producing more than 700 holiday gift boxes for human resources and diversity, equity and inclusion employees. It was Bold Xchange’s largest order to date.
Centene’s deal with Bold Xchange highlights the influence, and validation, large, local corporations can have when helping startups elevate their products and business models in their earlier stages.
Spencer said Bold Xchange’s deal with Centene was made possible through its connection with Zundra Bryant, Centene’s vice president of human resource operations. Bryant is a member of the board of directors at Arch Grants, which in 2020 awarded Bold Xchange a $50,000 grant. The Arch Grant prompted Bold Xchange to relocate operations from Charlotte, North Carolina, to St. Louis.
In addition to Centene, Bold Xchange has worked with other large brands based outside the region, including CarMax, Home Depot and several law firms.
“We’ve really been able to focus our efforts a lot on top 100 national law firms and Fortune 500 corporations,” Deavens said.
The startup hopes to continue its relationship with Centene. It is confident its relationship with the $126 billion company will help source more deals locally and beyond.
“Big names beget big names,” Spencer said. “Now when we go to another Fortune 500, it’s ‘wait, one of the biggest health care companies in the country worked with them, so that means we probably can, too.’ The size of that order has been transformative because it’s on the large end, so they know we can meet expectations and exceed them.”
