Transparent Collective Announces Startups Selected for the Batch 8 Early Stage Program
We are excited to announce that we have selected 10 companies for this quarter’s Early Stage Program!
We’re inviting 10 Black, Latinx, and womxn founders from across the country with promising tech products to join our intensive week-long program focused on the fundamentals of building a venture-backed tech business.
Batch 8 marks the culmination of six years of Transparent Collective’s Early Stage Program, which provides founders a hyper-personalized playbook that enables them to access the capital, connections, and community they need to succeed.
With access to investors, mentors, and industry specific speakers, founders will have the opportunity to improve their products, perfect their pitches, connect with potential funding opportunities, and grow their business with the support of the Transparent Collective community.
Among the 10 companies elected, nine are Black-founded and three are women founded. The founders hail from across the country, including emerging startup hubs like Detroit, MI, Richmond, VA, and Bellevue, WA.
Industries represented include SaaS, fintech, sustainability, education, media, music, and entertainment.
Meet Batch 8
We’re thrilled to introduce you to Batch 8! Read more about each company selected below.
Athlytic is a fully-integrated marketplace that connects student athlete influencers with potential endorsement partners so that they can take advantage of monetizing their likeness without taking away from their ability to perform at a high level in their perspective sport.
Circkled In Inc is a portfolio platform for students to showcase their academic achievements.
CrossKudi is a blockchain-enabled & Fee-free international money transfer platform for the 47M+ immigrants in the U.S., sending money back home to support families.
ElectroSpit Inc. is the first black and woman-founded music tech hardware company.
Encounter AI augments the operational frontlines of restaurants through a Voice AI system that takes orders at drive-thrus, kiosks, and over the phone.
Maven Curation is a platform for curators to build and monetize their audiences. Maven’s vision is to support and empower curators of all disciplines to scale and monetize their skillset.
SKNMUSE offers an elevated self-care ritual for the modern Black woman, inspired by clean-beauty practices. We’re telling the story of Black beauty — the right way.
Team Excel is a platform that gamifies student success metrics to turn learning and personal development into a fun and healthy competition.
Tribl Inc is a social DAO-building tool for communities of culture.
Udeesa Systemics & Technology is on a mission to improve the way that African & Afro-Caribbean heritage is preserved and taught about by applying XR technologies to storytelling & interdisciplinary learning resources.
If you have a passion for bringing more minority and women entrepreneurs to the table and are looking to diversify your portfolio, we hope you’ll attend the Batch 8 Startup Showcase on Friday, March 25, 12:00 to 2:15 PM PT. You can find more information and RSVP here.
Stay updated with Batch 8 next week by following us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
About Transparent Collective
Transparent Collective is a group of diverse operators increasing the number of Black, Latinx, and womxn entrepreneurs succeeding in venture backed tech. Based on our shared experiences, we provide a hyper-personalized playbook that enables founders to access capital, connections, and community.
