Sydney Davis, CEO of Tequity, won $40,000 in cash and the type of exposure money can’t buy when her company took first place among 225 applicants in VC firm Harlem Capital‘s virtual pitch competition.
Tequity is a no-coding-required mobile app development platform.
Its pitch is that it empowers non-technical founders to solve complex problems with apps that are simple to build, easy to manage and available to everyone. Removing technical and financial barriers to web and app development, Tequity claims it has done for apps what WordPress did for websites.
Many entrepreneurs have ideas for apps but lack the skills they need to create them, founder Davis said. They assume they can’t take their businesses to the next level. “Tequity brings equity to tech,” solving that problem.
A New York-based early-stage venture capital firm, Harlem Capital partnered with Forbes for its first More Equity pitch competition. Judges included:
Mandela Dixon, CEO of Founder Gym, acted as host for the pitch competition.
“They are women who have been changing the world and are very supportive of underrepresented entrepreneurs,” Harlem Capital said on Instagram.
To qualify, startups were required to have at least one woman or underrepresented individual among their founders, a focus on technology and less than $400,000 in funding to date, Forbes reported.
Tequity’s LinkedIn page says that you can build your app in one day for $79.
The company’s team is composed of professional Black women and women of color from different cultures, walks of life, and backgrounds.
“Everyone at Tequity brings their unique perspectives and successful business experience to our company, with each of us contributing a little bit of ourselves so that we may all be stronger and better for it,” according to the company.
Founder Sydney Davis says many entrepreneurs have ideas for apps but do not have the skills they need to create them. Because of this, they assume they can’t take their businesses to the next level. Tequity solves that problem. “Tequity brings equity to tech.”
Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 73: Jamarlin Martin Jamarlin makes the case for why this is a multi-factor rebellion vs. just protests about George Floyd. He discusses the Democratic Party’s sneaky relationship with the police in cities and states under Dem control, and why Joe Biden is a cop and the Steve Jobs of mass incarceration.
Tequity allows non-technical professionals to build mobile apps with a minimum of custom coding or development. “Anyone can operate, manage, and administer our applications, no special training needed,” the company says.
The goal of the competition was to provide opportunities for under-represented founders “outside of our portfolio,” Harlem Capital said on its website. Five finalists won access to investor networks, free marketing services through Harlem Capital’s Diversity Marketing Consortium partnership, and $50,000 total in total cash prizes.
Organizations from Fortune 500 companies to neighborhood community associations have used Tequity’s software and methodology to develop, publish, and maintain thousands of apps that reach millions of users every day, Tequity said.
Read more: Harlem Capital Closes $40 Million Inaugural Fund
