Guava, a banking platform for Black business owners, announced a $2.4M pre-seed round led by Heron Rock. Guava will officially launch in 2023.

Why should we care?
The banking platform eyes Black owners’ startup ambitions as a promising return on investment—both economically and socially. In a recent report, the Harvard Business Review claimed that Black women are the fastest-growing entrepreneurial demographic in the US—but, despite this, Black entrepreneurs receive below 2% of all venture funding. Founded by Kelly Ifill, Guava itself is led by a Black woman who understands the discriminatory gaps defining the financial space. The Covid-19 pandemic only exacerbated these gaps; 40% of small Black-owned businesses shuttered during the pandemic, as compared to 17% of white-owned businesses. Guava can both highlight existing racial and financial issues, while helping mitigate the discriminatory effects of future volatility.