SEVENTH AVE, INC. Raises $2.5M Seed Round led by MaC Venture Capital
Atlanta, GA — Today, 7th Ave, a knowledge sharing platform for Black professionals, creatives, entrepreneurs, and students announced their $2.5M seed round led by MaC Venture Capital, with additional investment from Twitter and Backstage Capital. Their intention is to create a space where mindful discovery, discussion, and community can take place with groups of people who have similar life experiences.
7th Ave is a community platform aggregating the Black digital experience. 7th Ave acts as your one stop show allowing users to integrate content they consume across the internet all in one place. Their intention is to create a space where mindful sharing takes place. Users will be able to curate the content they share on their profiles through creating boards, similar to Pinterest. This takes curating across the community to the next level. Lastly, 7th Ave offers a range of audio features that connect users based on their interest, allowing users to foster relationships at a quicker and deeper pace.
The Black community has a massive digital footprint globally (1.2B). In an era of Tik Tok dances and internet trends starting within the Black community, many creatives are frustrated by the lack of protection and credit they receive online (ex. Black Tik Tok creators on strike). Today, there is a huge void in the Black digital experience. The homes and spaces that have housed Black culture and community in the physical world, do not translate to the digital world. Additionally, the owners of the platforms most commonly used today are not Black-owned.
“Our mission is to create a space that celebrates Blackness in all its forms” says cofounder Brylan Donaldson. “We see 7th Ave as a tool for our community. A tool that can help connect us globally and build a foundation for honoring, hosting and harnessing the power of Black communities, IN community”.
7th Ave believes in order to build for the community, they must build with the community. This is why they have gone boots on the ground in cities like LA, NY, ATL, HTX, and DC collaborating with various events, vendors, and creatives to ask folks exactly what they want. Cofounder Diaundra Jones says, “we want to celebrate the intersectionality and diversity of the Black community, which is why it’s so important to be with the people and hear directly from them what they would want their digital home to look like. Being feet on the ground has allowed us to take in so many different perspectives and ideas. We believe community is everything”. Along with building with the community, the team believes in celebrating the community. They have released various community spotlights, podcasts, and newsletter all centered around amplifying the work and craft of the community.
“We believe home is a state of mind, one that starts within us” says Diaundra. “Home can take on many definitions, but one constant remains: Home is the place that you can authentically be yourself. We want to create the space for our community to feel seen and heard. Our mission is to ensure no matter where we are physically on this earth, that we always feel like we have a place to call home.”
“7th Ave is addressing a community concern that has been left unfilled for far too long,” said Marlon Nichols, founding managing partner at MaC Venture Capital. “We are in a time where physiological safety online needs to be front and center. It’s great to see the team focus on general community empathy and empowerment.” MaC Venture Capital has backed impressive companies such as Blavity, Gimlet Media, Pipe, Thrive Market, and Wonderschool to name a few.
“We firmly believe in the future of audio-first market opportunities, especially one that centers on and is built by the Black experience. 7th Ave allows Black creatives and creators a space to flourish and thrive,” says Arlan Hamilton, founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital. “Brylan and Diaundra are building for the community by focusing on its needs.”
7th Ave has officially launched to the app store, in which Brylan shares he “feels so grateful to the team and our partners for believing in us and building with us. We carry the responsibility everyday of building something that has the power to empower our community in a beautiful way. Less than 2% of people who look like us have the opportunity to be funded. So as we build we keep in mind those who can’t, those who will be impacted, and those who come after us.”
Download 7th Ave in the app store today! Cofounders Brylan and Diaundra will be in app Thursday November 4th, at 7pm ET/4pm PT chatting through their fundraising journey.
ABOUT 7TH AVE
7th Ave was founded in 2020 virtually, in the midst of the pandemic and racial unrest. The virtual team works across the world with team members ranging from the U.S to Barbados. Their growing team is made of highly skilled engineers, designers, and strategists that come from impressive experiences across industries such as Google, Microsoft, Robinhood, GA, Blavity, etc. They are supported by prominent industry leaders and thought leaders such as Charlamagne Tha God and Karen Civil. The team is led by Brylan Donaldson, co-founder & CEO who’s spent time at Affirm and Blavity, and Diaundra Jones, co-founder & head of brand who came from Microsoft. The seed-stage company has raised $2.5M to build out a knowledge sharing platform fostering community across Black culture.
ABOUT MaC VENTURE CAPITAL
MaC Venture Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley that invests in technology startups leveraging shifts in cultural trends and behaviors. The general partners represent diverse backgrounds in technology, business, politics, entertainment, and finance, allowing them to accelerate entrepreneurs on the verge of their breakthrough moment. The firm provides hands-on support crucial for building and scaling category-leading companies, including operations strategy, brand building, recruiting, sales development, and mission-critical introductions. MaC Venture Capital is the result of a merger between Cross Culture Ventures, co-founded by Marlon Nichols, and M Ventures, co-founded by Adrian Fenty, Michael Palank, and Charles D. King. Find MaC Venture Capital online at https://macventurecapital.com/ and @MaCVentureCap.
