June 9, 2022

After More Than 100 Pitches – This Black Duo Raised A $4.25M Seed Round To Scale Their Event Management Software

Five to Nine, which makes event management software, has closed a $4.25 million seed round led by Black Ops Ventures.

Other investors in the round include Slack Fund and Cleveland Avenue, with Mike Gamson, Sterling Road, and Concrete Rose Capital as repeat investors.

The company’s software lets enterprises plan programs for their employee resource groups, which enable employees who share characteristics or experiences to come together, share resources, and connect.

Jasmine Shells and Denise Umubyeyi launched the company in 2018 to help organizations manage, structure, and track employee events, meeting development programs, and Employee Resource Group (ERG) initiatives.

“Five to Nine was born out of my own unmet need in running an ERG without the proper infrastructure,” said Shells, according to a press release.

“We hacked together tools—such as email, calendar, messenger, and survey software—to manage the work. It required a more efficient system, yet, nothing was on the market. So we created it.”

Pitching more than 100 investors, Shells told TechCrunch that it took around four months to close the seed round. 

With the new funding, Five to Nine plans to expand its engineering teams, create new products and increase hiring. It also hopes to double its clientele, with Shells calling AirBnB a dream customer.

The company already counts Yahoo, UpWork, and Expedia as clients, and the product integrates with Okta, Workday, and Slack.

Abbianca Makoni

Abbianca Makoni is a content executive and writer at POCIT! She has years of experience reporting on critical issues affecting diverse communities around the globe.