2023
Year in Review.
FOUNDER FOCUSED. IMPACT DRIVEN.
Let’s rewind and represent all of the accomplishments and unforgettable moments of 2023.
A message from our CEO.
At Nex Cubed we believe that small doors can lead to large rooms. For us, this means viewing each day as an opportunity to not only make, but also celebrate, incremental progress. Whether it is introducing a founder to an investor, inviting one of our corporate partners to a demo day, or meeting with executives and entrepreneurs interested in joining our advisor network, 2023 proved to us that these seemingly mundane actions can lead to significant impact. Instead of waiting for the dust to settle in an uncertain economic environment, we launched our HBCU Founders Accelerator investing in 18 companies across two cohorts, we more than doubled the reach of our HBCU Founders Initiative, and developed two venture concepts addressing food insecurity on behalf of the Humana Foundation.
These results are thanks to the entire Nex Cubed community of dedicated advisors, board members, investment, corporate, and foundation partners who never hesitate to open doors on behalf of our founders. You made it possible for our founders to be in the room with a seat at the table. We look forward to keeping you posted on opportunities to make an outsize impact throughout 2024 and beyond.
Warmly,
Marlon Evans, CEO
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD FOR UNDERREPRESENTED FOUNDERS AND ALLOCATORS
We hosted our first HBCU Innovation Summit & Demo Day
On September 14, we held our inaugural Nex Cubed HBCU Innovation Summit and Demo Day in Mountain View, CA. The Summit focused on discussions around how we can level the playing field for underrepresented founders and allocators and culminated in a Demo Day highlighting the 8 amazing HBCU Founders who participated in our Spring HBCU Founders Accelerator program.
Featured Speakers:
OG Arabian Prince
Founding Member, N.W.A., Co- Founder & CEO, MDDAO/MYMEDV, Founder & CEO, iNov8 Next Open Labs, Founder & CEO, GGGOAT, President, LAFTC Robotics Competition
Pamela Garmon Johnson
VP, Health Equity & Partnerships and Executive Director, National Hypertension Control Initiative, American Heart Association
Maia Sharpley
Founder & Managing Partner, Odonata Ventures
Chris Lehane
Chief Strategy Officer, Haun Ventures
Vivian Wu
Managing Partner, Ventures, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Terik Tidwell
Director of Inclusive Innovation, VentureWell
Merline Saintil
Fortune 100 Board Member
Ashlee Wisdom, MPH
Founder & CEO, Health In Her HUE
Karen Presley, JD, LLM, MBA, CLP
Deputy Director, Office of Research and Technology Applications (ORTA), National Security Agency (NSA)
We launched the HBCU Founders Accelerator, investing in two cohorts of 18 companies
The Nex Cubed HBCU Founders Accelerator seeks to foster and invest in startups where at least one founder is an HBCU student, alum, or faculty member.
After screening over 270 startups with founders from HBCUs, we selected 8 companies to participate in the first HBCU Founders Accelerator Cohort. In April, we kicked off the 16-week program in Atlanta, GA, held a mid-program check-in in Austin, TX, and completed the program with a successful Demo Day at the HBCU Innovation Summit in Silicon Valley. We are incredibly proud of each team and look forward to their continued success.
Spring 2023 Cohort
From a pool of exceptional talent, we are thrilled to have accepted the top 2% for our HBCU Founders Accelerator Cohort #2. The program kicked off in November in New York City where the teams had an opportunity to meet with their dedicated advisors. The mid-program check-in will take place in January in Washington DC and the Demo Day will be held in April in Atlanta, GA. We look forward to working with this exceptional group of founders.
Fall 2023 Cohort
Meet the Teams
We partnered with great organizations.
This year, Nex Cubed partnered with the Humana Foundation, the HBCU Founders Initiative, and the UNC Eshelman Institute for Innovation to create PowerUp. PowerUp is a venture studio program that aims to catalyze social and economic impact by empowering diverse innovators and launching advantaged startups focused on improving health outcomes for their communities.
To achieve PowerUp’s mission to reduce the healthcare burden across mental health and nutrition, we gathered input via community workshops, focus groups, among other outreach activities, and ultimately surfaced two potential business models addressing racial health disparities in food insecurity in North Carolina and beyond.
TerraLink empowers healthier communities from seed-to-stomach gardening. The proposed solution offers an AI-enabled food ecosystem that equips corporations and communities with the tools to grow, produce, and consume their own healthier food options, leading to better health outcomes.
mirePoix Health aims to build the first, end-to-end platform for the Food Farmacy ecosystem that connects patients, payors, and providers. The platform is dedicated to providing medical nutrition therapy, such as medically tailored meals and groceries, and prescription produce and protein, to underserved people and communities faced with chronic conditions and struggling with food insecurity.
On December 7th, Terralink and mirepoix presented their business concepts at the PowerUp Demo Day in Greensboro, NC. We look forward to sharing more on our PowerUp efforts in the coming weeks. Thank you to our partners for making this venture possible!
At Nex Cubed, we are dedicated to addressing the lack of diversity in VC representation and the insufficient capital deployed to founders from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This year, we launched our Venture Scouting program designed to work with scouts from diverse backgrounds, helping to empower them with practical knowledge of venture capital and real-world applications.
As part of the program, we have partnered with the nonprofit HBCUvc to help train the next generation of Black venture capitalists. Applications for the Nex Cubed x HBCUvc program are being accepted. Those interested can apply here.
Launched by Nex Cubed, the HBCU Founders Initiative (HBCUFI) aims to catalyze investment in diverse founders by supporting HBCU students and alumni along their entrepreneurial journey.
The HBCUFI Pre-Accelerator provides specialized support to students and alumni exploring entrepreneurship and the launch of tech-fueled ventures across HBCU campuses.
This year, HBCUFI selected five additional HBCUs to join its Pre-Accelerator program, bringing its total number of HBCU campus-based cohorts to 12 institutions, with a growing waitlist of schools ready to partner. Click here to read the announcement.
To date, over 800 students and alumni from 80+ HBCUs have benefitted from HBCUFI's programming with participants raising over $2M for their startups.
In case you missed it.
Portfolio Company News
Alphaa.io CEO and Co-Founder Manuela Seve named one of the top 10 women to watch in FinTech!
Enrich.ly expanded into Abu Dhabi and won the 2023 Venture Atlanta Conference Startup Showcase Live grand prize of $500,000.
Family Proud partnered with the Mitchell Thorp Foundation.
HitCheck partners with Plasticity Centers, LowMed Health & Sport Performance Centre in South Africa, Premier PT, and Tennessee State Soccer Association (TSSA), among others. Check out HitCheck 3.0!
iSport360 partnered with Stack Sports to bring their youth sports newsletter to the millions of families in the Stack Sports ecosystem.
Vaila Shoes launched into Macy’s, received Atlanta’s Scrappiest Startup Award, and was named Forbes 30 Under 30 in Atlanta. Click here for more!
Trials.ai was acquired by ZS as part of its effort to help clinical dev teams optimize study design, participant experience, and time to market.
Blackbird.AI received Fortune Magazine’s Impact 20 award and raised $20 million in a Series B funding round.
