BLACK IN FINTECH
‘ Diversity of race builds diversity of opinions ’ Unfortunately , Drew ’ s experiences are representative of today ’ s black founder experience , where additional hurdles are placed in the way of black-founded businesses that make it all the more challenging for those startups – and all the more impressive when those challenges are overcome .
Nonetheless , there are glimmers of hope that the picture is improving . According to the database Crunchbase , there are 109 black or African American-led fintechs in the US alone today , in addition to 127 black or African American-founded fintechs .
“ In my experience , I see three main challenges we ’ re still facing ,” explains
Everett Sands . “ The first is of course the inherent bias that still exists in any racial relationship .
“ More broadly , my peer network in the lending space often does not fully relate to the hurdles my team and I are trying to use technology to solve because those hurdles have never slowed them down personally . My team puts in a lot of work to help them understand these hurdles and how technology overcomes them .
“ Many capital deployers don ’ t have experience networking within established minority circles . That means the minority entrepreneurs who need capital to grow their businesses , and the people who control the capital , are rarely in the same room or even seeking out the same rooms .
126 October 2023