Journal · TECH · September 22, 2026 · 5 min read
Black Founders Get 0.4% of Venture Funding. Let's Talk About It.
In 2024, Black founders received about 0.4% of all venture funding in the US, according to Crunchbase. Less than half of one percent.
Read that again. Not because Black founders lack ideas, talent or ambition. Because the money doesn't reach them.
The gap isn't about talent.
Investors tend to fund people who look like them, went where they went, and know who they know. It's not always intentional. It's a network problem that has become a market problem.
And it costs everyone.
When the same profiles build every product, the same problems get solved and others get ignored. Whole markets go unseen, simply because nobody around the table lives them.
Melanated skin in aesthetic medicine is one of those markets. Millions of clients, a booming industry, and almost nothing built around their specific risks. That gap is exactly why I'm building Uko.
What I've learned about building in tech without the usual network:
Your lived experience is not a weakness. It's your unfair advantage.
You see problems others don't.
Build proof before you ask for money.
Clients, partners, data. Proof travels further than a pitch deck.
Find the people who already believe in the market.
Specialized funds, angels, communities and programs exist. They're fewer, but they're real.
Don't shrink the vision to fit the room.
If the room is too small, find another room.
0.4% is not a verdict on what we can build. It's a reminder of how much is still left to change.
And every founder who makes it through that gap makes it a little wider for the next one.