Blavity
Blavity Inc. is a digital media company operating six owned brands (Blavity, AfroTech, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, Shadow and Act) reaching over 32 million monthly Black millennial and Gen-Z users, monetized through advertising, the Blavity360° publisher network, the AFROTECH Conference, Talent Infusion SaaS recruiting, and CTV inventory.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersLos Angeles, United States
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Blavity does
Blavity Inc. is a privately held, founder-led digital media corporation founded in 2014 in Los Angeles by CEO Morgan DeBaun alongside co-founders Jeff Nelson (COO), Jonathan Jackson, and Aaron Samuels. The company operates a portfolio of owned-and-operated editorial brands — Blavity, AfroTech, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, and Shadow and Act — that collectively reach over 32 million monthly users, with the company website claiming 100 million consumers reached monthly. Two principal operating divisions structure the business: Blavity Media Group (BMG), which monetizes audiences through advertising, sponsorships, live events, the Blavity360° minority-owned publisher network, and (as of 2026) Connected TV inventory via OTTera; and Talent Infusion, which combines the AfroTech professional network and annual AFROTECH Conference (40,000+ attendees, the largest technology conference for Black professionals globally) with a SaaS recruiting platform. Adjacent initiatives include HealthStack, a health-equity and innovation platform under AfroTech, and Blavity House Party, a music festival acquired as RNB House Party in 2023 and rebranded.
The company monetizes primarily through digital advertising and media sponsorship (the dominant stream), event sponsorship and activation around AFROTECH and Blavity House Party, the Blavity360° programmatic publisher network, recurring Talent Infusion SaaS subscriptions, sponsorship resale tied to The Gathering Spot clubs in Atlanta, DC, and Los Angeles, channel sales of OTTera's CTV inventory, and voluntary reader contributions processed via Stripe. Enterprise customers and brand partners include Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, UnitedHealth Group, Walmart, OnStar, and DELEÓN Tequila. GTM motions span enterprise field sales, channel partnerships (OTTera, Blavity360°), event-driven (AFROTECH, Blavity House Party), direct-to-consumer across six owned brands, and community-led growth via AfroTech, HealthStack, the Blavity Creator Collective Fellowship, and The Gathering Spot cross-membership. The company is fully remote in the U.S., operates with 101–250 employees, and has not disclosed additional institutional funding since a 2018 Series A of $6.5 million led by Google Ventures.
Blavity firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Blavity
- Legal name
- Blavity, Inc.
- Website
- https://blavityinc.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- Blavity Inc. is a digital media company operating six owned brands (Blavity, AfroTech, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, Shadow and Act) reaching over 32 million monthly Black millennial and Gen-Z users, monetized through advertising, the Blavity360° publisher network, the AFROTECH Conference, Talent Infusion SaaS recruiting, and CTV inventory.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Blavity industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Media & Advertising
- NAICS
- Media Buying Agencies (541830), Advertising Agencies (541810)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Lead Generation & Performance Media (B2B/B2C) (MPAAACAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- B2B / Industrial Market Research (MPAAALAA), Technology & B2B PR (MPAAADAC), Creator Licensing & Rights Monetization (UGC Licensing, Music/Video Rights) (MPACAFAK)
Keywords
Where Blavity is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Angeles
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Blavity business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Digital Advertising & Media Sponsorship: Primary revenue stream. Blavity Media Group sells advertising (including CTV inventory via OTTera) and sponsorships across its owned premium brands (Blavity, AfroTech, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, Shadow & Act) and the Blavity360° publisher network, targeting enterprise brand partners seeking reach into Black consumer audiences.
- Event Sponsorship & Activation: Revenue from sponsorships, branded activations, and on-site experiences at AfroTech Conference (40,000+ attendees) and other live events such as Blavity House Party; partners include Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, UnitedHealth Group, DELEÓN Tequila.
- Talent Infusion SaaS: Recurring SaaS revenue from the Talent Infusion recruiting platform, allowing clients to build a diverse, pre-vetted talent pipeline.
- Sponsorship Sales (The Gathering Spot): Revenue from exclusive sponsorship sales at The Gathering Spot private-membership clubs (Atlanta, DC, LA) and on-site activations amplified across BMG's digital platforms.
- Voluntary Reader Contributions: One-time and recurring monthly voluntary financial contributions from readers to support Blavity's journalism and editorial operations, processed via third-party payment processors (e.g., Stripe).
- Channel Sales / Inventory Resale: BMG acts as an authorized channel sales partner reselling OTTera's Connected TV and FAST channel advertising inventory to its brand partners.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Monthly | Voluntary Reader Contributions (one-time or recurring monthly) |
Go-to-market motion5 records
Blavity product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Blavity Inc. operates a portfolio of premium digital media brands (Blavity, AfroTech, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, Shadow and Act) targeting Black millennials and Gen-Z, collectively reaching over 100 million consumers monthly. The company monetizes these audiences primarily through Blavity Media Group (BMG) advertising sales, the Blavity360° minority-owned programmatic publisher network, event sponsorships (AfroTech Conference, Blavity House Party music festival), and the Talent Infusion SaaS recruitment platform.
Product overview
Blavity Inc. is a digital media corporation that organizes its portfolio around two principal operating divisions. The Blavity Media Group (BMG) division distributes premium editorial content across its owned media brands — Blavity, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, and Shadow and Act — and monetizes that audience through the Blavity 360° minority-owned publisher network and live brand experiences such as the Blavity House Party music festival. The Talent Infusion division combines the AfroTech professional network and its annual AFROTECH Conference with the Talent Infusion SaaS recruitment platform. Adjacent to these divisions, HealthStack operates as an AfroTech initiative for health equity and innovation, while BLAVITY.org functions as a related racial equity and social impact nonprofit founded by the same leadership.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Blavity Media Group: Division that distributes original content to influential audiences and offers advertising solutions to premium publishers and creators.
- Talent Infusion
- AfroTech
- 21Ninety
- Travel Noire
- Shadow and Act
- Home & Texture
- Blavity 360°
- Blavity House Party
Products and services
- Blavity Media Group (BMG) Advertising Solutions The largest digital media company for Black culture and the millennial generation, reaching over 32 million monthly users. Distributes original content and offers advertising solutions across owned premium media brands, enabling enterprise brand partners to reach Black consumer audiences through integrated digital campaigns.
- Blavity 360° Publisher Network An Ad Publisher Solutions platform that programmatically connects advertisers with a wide range of minority-owned publishers, enabling targeted audience reach across BMG's network of multicultural publishers.
- Talent Infusion SaaS Platform A career and talent SaaS recruitment platform integrated with the AfroTech professional network that enables clients to build a diverse, pre-vetted talent pipeline of candidates.
- AfroTech Conference The largest technology conference for Black professionals globally with 40,000+ attendees, offering event sponsorships and branded activations for enterprise partners such as Microsoft, Amazon, Uber, and UnitedHealth Group.
- Blavity House Party Music Festival A music festival and live events property celebrating Black music and culture, offering sponsorship and on-site activation opportunities for brand partners.
- HealthStack Platform A health equity and innovation platform operated as an initiative of AfroTech, focused on expanding clinical trials access, advancing AI in clinical practice, supporting underrepresented clinicians, and driving health equity outcomes in Heart and Metabolic Health, Maternal Health, and Food as Care.
Companies that use Blavity
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles3 records
Blavity technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
Feature5 records
Blavity partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves12 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Blavity competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Essence Communications: Essence Communications operates Essence Magazine and the Essence Festival, the largest Black-culture media brand and live event, and competes directly with Blavity Media Group for Black women audiences, premium advertising dollars, and event sponsorships.
- Urban One (Interactive One): Urban One is the largest Black-owned media company in the U.S., combining radio, TV (TV One), and a digital portfolio (Interactive One: Hello Beautiful, Bossip, The Root) that directly overlaps with Blavity's audience targeting, multicultural ad network, and editorial verticals.
- The Grio: The Grio is a Black-focused digital news and culture platform owned by NBCUniversal/G/O Media, competing with Blavity.com for Black news, culture, and identity audiences as well as the same multicultural advertising budgets.
- REVOLT Media & TV: REVOLT is a Black-owned music and culture media company with a linear TV channel and digital platform, directly comparable to Blavity in Black audience targeting, content verticals, and brand-sponsorship monetization—particularly via Blavity House Party.
- MadameNoire: MadameNoire is a Black women's lifestyle digital publication covering relationships, career, beauty, and money, overlapping directly with Blavity's 21Ninety and Blavity editorial verticals for the same Black women advertising audience.
- The Shade Room: The Shade Room is a leading Black-focused entertainment and celebrity news digital brand built largely on social distribution, comparable to Blavity and Shadow & Act in audience demographic, advertising sales motion, and reliance on social-platform-driven reach.
Emerging players
- ReachTV: ReachTV is a Black-owned CTV/FAST-channel network available in airports and on connected devices, comparable to Blavity Media Group's newly launched CTV inventory through the OTTera partnership, particularly relevant given the shared focus on Black-audience CTV advertising.
- HBCU Buzz: HBCU Buzz is a digital media platform serving the HBCU and broader Black professional/young-adult audience, partially overlapping with Blavity's AfroTech and Travel Noire audiences and competing for the same multicultural advertising and event sponsorships.
Broad incumbents
- Condé Nast: Condé Nast is a major multi-brand digital media company (Vogue, GQ, Wired, etc.) with a broad multicultural audience strategy and enterprise advertising platform, comparable to Blavity Media Group in multi-brand editorial portfolio and brand-sponsorship GTM, but at much larger scale and broader audience.
- Vox Media: Vox Media operates a large multi-brand digital publishing portfolio (Vox, The Verge, SB Nation, New York Magazine) plus a conference business (Vox Media events) and advertising solutions, comparable to Blavity in the multi-brand media + events + ad-platform model, though at broader demographic scale.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Blavity social profiles
Digital presenceBlavity compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Blavity financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Blavity leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Blavity subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries8 records
Blavity funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors15 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Blavity M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Blavity
What does Blavity do?
Blavity Inc. operates a portfolio of premium digital media brands (Blavity, AfroTech, 21Ninety, Travel Noire, Home & Texture, Shadow and Act) targeting Black millennials and Gen-Z, collectively reaching over 100 million consumers monthly. The company monetizes these audiences primarily through Blavity Media Group (BMG) advertising sales, the Blavity360° minority-owned programmatic publisher network, event sponsorships (AfroTech Conference, Blavity House Party music festival), and the Talent Infusion SaaS recruitment platform.
Is Blavity a public or private company?
Blavity is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Blavity founded?
Blavity was founded in 2014. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is Blavity based?
Blavity is headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, in the North America region.
How does Blavity make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Digital Advertising & Media Sponsorship is the primary driver. The others are event Sponsorship & Activation, talent Infusion SaaS, sponsorship Sales (The Gathering Spot), voluntary Reader Contributions and channel Sales / Inventory Resale.
Who are Blavity's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Essence Communications, Urban One (Interactive One), The Grio, REVOLT Media & TV, MadameNoire and The Shade Room. Emerging players are ReachTV and HBCU Buzz. Broad incumbents are Condé Nast and Vox Media.
Does Blavity have an API?
No public API is recorded for Blavity.
What industry is Blavity in?
Blavity's product category is Digital Media & Advertising. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAACAK, Lead Generation & Performance Media (B2B/B2C), with a secondary code of MPAAALAA, B2B / Industrial Market Research. Its NAICS code is 541830 and its SIC code is 7311.