woman-owned Business spotlight
Interventions Rare funding helping Kanarys strengthen workplace DEI
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~ Mandy Price, co-founder and CEO, Kanarys Inc.
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“We’ve had to approach fundraising very differently. We wanted to be with investors that understand the market, the opportunity and the change we are trying to create in the world.” — Mandy Price
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24 Collin County Leader • Premier Issue
arified air. That is a perfect description of Kanarys Inc., a technology company of Black founders that lifts organizations by providing software and tools to address emerging workforce challenges surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. Entrepreneur and Kanarys co-founder and CEO Mandy Price launched the Dallas, Texas-based startup, along with her two co-founders, Star Carter and Bennie King, in 2018. They received their first infusion of highly elusive venture capital funding in 2020. As the recipient of venture backing, Kanarys indeed embodies rarified air, especially considering that diverse business owners face overwhelming obstacles in the scramble to obtain financing of any kind to grow their companies. Meanwhile, Black women founders receive an even more minuscule piece of the venture capital pie — in which private equity investors provide capital to companies with high-growth potential in exchange for equity stakes. Statistics show that all Black founders historically have received less than 1% of available venture capital dollars. According to Crunchbase Inc. — which aggregates investment data and information on global companies — a record $147 billion in venture capital was invested in U.S. startups through the first half of this year. Crunchbase research noted that venture dollars invested with Black firms has increased since 2019, but still only about 1.2% of that $147 billion went to all Black founders and 0.34% to Black women founders. “There is a huge disparity when it comes to Black founders receiving funding,” Price said. “It is a big challenge. There are many, many entrepreneurs who have talented teams and great ideas, but are not funded.” Kanarys was fortunate enough to close on a $3 million round of venture funding earlier this year, led by Zeal Capital Partners LLC that also included investors Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund; Morgan Stanley; 100 Black Angels and Allies Fund; Segal Ventures; Portfolia Rising America and Rackhouse Ventures, according to the company. The round — which is being used to advance product features and accelerate sales and marketing
} By M.V. Greene among various initiatives — increased to $4.6 million in seed funding overall that Kanarys has received since its founding. Kanarys approached the funding market by targeting so-called “inclusive investors” who have a vision corresponding to that of the company. While noting that the business case for DEI has been built out for decades, Price said that two seminal events during 2020 — the George Floyd social injustice protests and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic — exposed how badly organizations were faring with issues around workplace DEI. Before 2020, many potential investors did not understand “the vision of what we were trying to create. A lot of them have now. They’ve seen the shift that has happened with respected companies and corporations focusing on DEI,” Price said. Many venture investors failed to see the market for DEI and challenges in the workplace for women, people of color, LGBTQ+ and other underrepresented groups, she said. “We’ve had to approach fundraising very differently. We wanted to be with investors that understand the market, the opportunity and the change we are trying to create in the world.” Price’s personal and professional brand are as much the story of Kanarys as anything else. Growing up in Texas, she always had an abiding interest in issues involving racial and social justice. For example, at the University of Texas at Austin — where she received her undergraduate degree — she served as a member of the school’s Task Force on Racial Respect and Fairness. On top of that, she is a Harvard Law School-trained lawyer, receiving her juris doctor in 2006. She focused her research interest on social justice issues, including service on Harvard’s Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, which is widely viewed as the nation’s leading progressive law journal. After graduation, she moved into the divergent field of private equity and worked for more than a decade in Big Law — large, high-revenue law firms usually located in major U.S. cities — before establishing Kanarys, giving her a heads up on how founders attract venture dollars. ccleader.net
