Mixtroz inks $1m seed

Mixtroz, a networking software company, has secured $1 million in seed funding. Black Star Fund led the round.

PRESS RELEASE

BIRMINGHAM, ALA– May 6, 2021 – Mixtroz, a leader in fostering authentic connection and community-building at live, virtual, and hybrid events announced today the close of its $1M seed round. The investment was led by Black Star Fund, an early-stage innovation fund focusing primarily on companies led by Black technology and innovation leaders with participation from Backstage Capital’s Arlan Was Here Fund along with further investments from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Birmingham’s Timberline Holdings, and Harmony Venture Labs.

Mixtroz was founded by human resources veteran, Kerry Schrader, and events expert, Ashlee Ammons, in 2015 after both experienced the inefficiencies associated with networking at live events. The pair closed a historic pre-seed fundraise at the close of 2018 making the duo the 37th and 38th black, female founders to raise over $1M of funding in the U.S. While initially focused on connectivity and data collection in the live event space, the profound market shift in 2020 created a demand in the virtual space which Mixtroz successfully met with the launch of their virtual product in April 2020.

“Securing funding is based not only on the strength of your product but the strength of your network and we’ve been building relationships with our new investment partners at Black Star Fund and Backstage Capital for years,” said Ashlee Ammons Mixtroz Cofounder. “We believe they are the perfect partners to help as we continue to expand and grow our business, technology, and client base nationally.”

The new funding round will allow Mixtroz to grow its team, further product development, and establish a national footprint in the market. The company will soon unveil a reimagined platform that encompasses key learnings from operating in a fully virtual environment for the last year.

While fundraising and evolving their product offerings, Mixtroz has also stayed in the spotlight: In October 2019 the duo was named to the 100 Most Powerful Women List by Entrepreneur Magazine. Most recently, Co-Founder, Ashlee Ammons, was chosen by American Express and IFundWomen of Color to be among the 100 black, female entrepreneurs and innovators presented with $25,000 in funding as well as 100 days of resources as part of their new 100 for 100 program. Mixtroz is currently partnering with Microsoft Women in Cloud and Google for Startups Founder Academy to support the business’ scale.

“I’m proud to announce Black Star Fund’s investment in Mixtroz because the company has taken a fresh approach coupling human-centric design and technology to improve the way people connect in our now hybrid world,” said Kwame Anku, CEO & Chairman, Black Star Fund. “I look forward to continuing to work with Mixtroz as it scales and becomes a trusted brand on the national business stage.”

About Mixtroz
Mixtroz is on a mission to simplify human connection by sparking serendipity while generating meaningful insight. Using Mixtroz, participants streamline the path to meaningful conversations by replacing friction and awkwardness with confidence and excitement, all while gaining quantitative and qualitative data for hosts. Mixtroz works across enterprise, events, and education with innovative companies like Amazon, Deloitte, Southern Company, TEDx, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Babson College, Emory University, and John Hopkins University. To learn more about Mixtroz, visit https://www.mixtroz.com, for more on the founders, visit https://www.mixtroz.com/company.