Meet The 14th (Ever) African-American Female Founder To Raise $1M
Raising capital is an arduous journey that few entrepreneurs successfully complete. Add a female founder at the helm, and chances of success decrease significantly. Now add an African American female founder, and the chances become abysmal. African American women receive a mere 0.2% of overall venture capital dollars, and of the rare few who do receive money, the average dollar amount is $36,000, compared to the average $1.3 million doled out to the typical white male founded startup.
Enter Kristina Jones, cofounder of Court Buddy, and now the 14th ever African American female founder to raise $1 million or more for her startup. Project Diane calls women like Jones “The Real Unicorns of Tech,” because they are such a rare find.
Court Buddy is a legal tech startup that instantly matches consumers with vetted solo attorneys based on the client’s budget. In the U.S. alone, millions of Americans go to court each year who don’t have the means to pay, and hundreds of thousands of solo attorneys and small law firms struggle to get clients. Jones is bringing these two groups together at scale through her technology.
In addition to becoming the 14th African American female to raise $1 million, Jones has achieved another feat, she is successfully juggling a double partnership. Her cofounder, James Jones, is also her husband, and together they nurture Court Buddy, their business baby, as well as a young daughter at home.
Jones met her lead investor Andrew Koven from LDR Ventures this year at the SheWorx100 Summit in San Francisco. Her other investors include XFactor Ventures, GingerBread Capital, LSS Fund, Uphonest Capital, Equipo Ventures, 500 Startups, and several angel investors including lawyers, doctors, and Fortune 500 executives.