February 3, 2025

Black History Month: 8 Black Tech Startups Making A Difference In Their Communities

It’s February, which means it’s finally Black History Month. It’s a time when Black people reflect on the triumphs, victories, and achievements Black people have made in the country. While it’s essential to look back at what Black people have overcome, it’s also important to acknowledge the history Black people are making today.

Black innovators are shaping the future in every industry, and the tech world is no exception. Here, we spotlight eight Black-owned tech startups that are driving change, creating opportunities, and making a real impact in Black communities. These ventures aren’t just making history—they’re shaping what’s to come.

Spill

Founded in 2023, Spill is a Black-owned social platform created by Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell and CTO DeVaris Brown, a pair of Black former Twitter employees. Its name comes from “spill the tea,” a commonly used phrase in the Black community.

Backed by celebrity investors like Kerry Washington, Spill aims to create safer spaces for historically marginalized groups, including LGBTQIA+ and people of color. The app has a live news feed that allows people to stay updated with current affairs and pop news culture. More recently, the startup also contributed to efforts to raise funds for Black families displaced by the Los Angeles wildfires.

Mansa

Are you looking for an app that only streams Black culturally led content? Mansa could be the answer to your prayers. Founded by actors David Oyelowo, Chiké Okonkwo, and Nate Parker, Mansa offers several forms of content, including on-demand titles, digital linear (FAST) channels, and short-form videos, all of which focus on Black content.

“For four hours a day [they are] in front of a television screen, watching long-form content, and the other four hours in front of their phone watching short-form content. So what we thought would be interesting was if we can marry the two in a really interesting way that nobody is doing,” they previously told TechCrunch.

Mahmee

Mahmee is a Black-owned maternity and infant care management platform dedicated to enhancing birth outcomes in marginalized communities. Mahmee acts as a liaison between expectant parents and members of their care team. Its network features over 750 practices and community-based organizations across the US, connecting families with doulas, lactation consultants, midwives, therapists, and nutritionists.

Mahmee prides itself on enabling ‘wraparound’ pregnancy and postpartum care that is easy for families to access, including in-person care, virtual visits, and a 24/7 app providing access to health records, education, and live support.

Kiira

Navigating healthcare can be tricky and expensive; this is where Kiira comes in. Founded by Crystal Adesanya, Kiira is an app that bridges the gap in student healthcare while teaching students about healthcare literacy.

Students can book appointments, access educational resources like podcasts and videos, and learn about on-campus events like fitness workshops and health fairs.

Mae

Mae is a digital health platform that connects Black expectant mothers with critical resources to drive positive pregnancy outcomes. Founded in 2020, during the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, this platform seeks to mitigate maternal health disparities for Black women.

The app includes free birth planning tools and 15-minute consults with a doula. It also provides expectant mothers with maternal health experts and a variety of digital tools aimed at informing and protecting women against common pregnancy complications like preeclampsia, cardiomyopathy, and depression.

Zing Health

Eric E. Whitaker, MD, MPH, and Kenneth Alleyne, MD founded Zing Health in 2019 to provide Medicare Advantage plans to limit healthcare disparities among historically underserved populations.

Zing understands that 80% of clinical outcomes are linked to social determinants of health, so it prioritizes learning about a patient’s circumstances outside of medical settings. They serve several counties, such as Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee.

Stackwell

A small team based in Boston came together to create Stackwell, a startup to close the racial wealth gap. It built an app to change financial outcomes by educating its users on financial knowledge and investing.

“Access to capital, or the lack thereof, directly impacts a person’s ability to shape and direct the outcomes that matter most in their lives. I started Stackwell to help level the playing field and open up access to one of the greatest wealth creation tools our world has ever seen to a community of people that have historically been taught and believed it wasn’t for them,” Founder & CEO Trevor Rozier Byrd said on its website.

Goodr

Goodr, an Atlanta-based food waste diversion platform, ensures surplus food from organizations is put to good use. Founded by Jasmine Crowe in 2017, Goodr helps combat food insecurity by collecting edible food waste and donating it to local nonprofits. Through this process, it bridges the gap between excess food and those in need.

It also works with hospitals and universities to help those in need while preventing unnecessary waste from going into landfills.


Image credit: Goodr

Habiba Katsha

Habiba Katsha is a journalist and writer who specializes in writing about race, gender, and the internet. She is currently a tech reporter at POCIT.