Black Tech Week
Black Tech Week is a Cincinnati-based conference and community organization that produces an annual three-day tech and entrepreneurship event for Black founders, investors, students, and corporate partners, supported by year-round regional meetups across Ohio and operated under the Lightship Foundation umbrella.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersCincinnati, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Black Tech Week does
Black Tech Week is a privately organized, culture-driven technology and entrepreneurship conference company that produces an annual three-day flagship event in Cincinnati, Ohio, along with a year-round program of regional meetups and supplementary programming. Founded in 2021 and operated under the Lightship Foundation umbrella — with adjacency to Lightship Capital, an affiliated investment vehicle — the organization targets Black founders, creators, operators, investors, students, and corporate partners, with the explicit mission of creating access to capital, networking, and career pathways for underrepresented builders in the tech ecosystem.
The company's core product is the annual Black Tech Week Conference, held July 14–16, 2026 in Cincinnati for the fifth consecutive year, featuring keynote presentations, panel discussions, interactive workshops, VC matchmaking sessions, a career fair, and an Ohio Opportunity Day. Supporting products include BTW Meetups — local workshops and networking events running across Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, Toledo, and Akron throughout 2026 — as well as corporate activation experiences, speaker nomination pipelines, and curated hotel and travel planning for out-of-town attendees. A mobile application provides attendee support, and media/press operations are formalized through BTW Media. The underlying technology stack is conventional web infrastructure (PHP-based site, Google Analytics, Stripe payment processing for donations) with no proprietary AI or software product.
Revenue is generated through three streams: ticket sales for the annual conference (with a 20% promotional discount via code 'CREATE'), corporate sponsorships targeting brands seeking visibility in the Black tech community, and donations processed through Stripe. The organization markets primarily through organic social channels (Instagram, X/Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn), email newsletters, and the regional BTW Meetup network, with acquisition driven by speaker nominations, partner promotions, and corporate collaboration rather than paid performance marketing.
Black Tech Week firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Black Tech Week
- Legal name
- Black Tech Week
- Website
- https://blacktechweek.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Black Tech Week is a Cincinnati-based conference and community organization that produces an annual three-day tech and entrepreneurship event for Black founders, investors, students, and corporate partners, supported by year-round regional meetups across Ohio and operated under the Lightship Foundation umbrella.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Black Tech Week industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Technology Conferences and Events
- NAICS
- Convention and Trade Show Organizers (56192), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Corporate Meeting & Conference Planning (Internal/External) (THAHACAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Training, Enablement & Talent Development Summits (THAHAMAH), Product & Innovation Summits (Roadmap, Launch Readiness, Innovation Days) (THAHAMAG)
Keywords
Where Black Tech Week is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Cincinnati
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Black Tech Week business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from selling tickets to the annual Black Tech Week conference. The event offers a 20% discount with code 'CREATE'.
- Sponsorships: Corporate collaboration and sponsorship revenue from brands seeking visibility with the Black tech community audience.
- Donations: Donation support through Stripe payment processing for supporters of the Black Tech Week initiative.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Standard conference ticket with promotional discount |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels7 records
Black Tech Week product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Black Tech Week operates an annual three-day culture-driven technology and entrepreneurship conference held in Cincinnati, Ohio, gathering Black founders, creators, investors, students, and operators for keynote presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and networking. The core offering is supplemented by regional BTW Meetups across Ohio cities, VC Matchmaking programming, a Career Fair, Ohio Opportunity Day, and Activate at BTW experiential events. Revenue is generated through individual ticket sales, corporate sponsorship packages, and donations processed via Stripe.
Product overview
Black Tech Week is a culture-driven technology and entrepreneurship conference experience. The core product is the annual three-day Black Tech Week Conference held in Cincinnati, Ohio. Supporting products include BTW Meetups (local gatherings in cities like Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, Toledo, and Akron), VC Matchmaking services, Career Fair, Ohio Opportunity Day, Activate at BTW experiences, and Media/Press services. Additional offerings include Speaker Nomination, Sponsorship Opportunities, Ticket Registration, and Hotel & Travel Planning. The portfolio also includes a mobile application for attendee support.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- BTW: Abbreviated brand name used for Black Tech Week, as seen in hashtags like #BTW26
- BTW Meetups
- BTW Media
- VC Matchmaking
Products and services
- Black Tech Week Conference Annual three-day culture-driven technology and entrepreneurship conference held in Cincinnati, Ohio, gathering Black founders, creators, investors, students, and operators for keynote presentations, panel discussions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities over three days of curated content.
- BTW Meetups Local gathering events held across Ohio cities including Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland, Toledo, and Akron, featuring hands-on workshops covering topics such as LinkedIn optimization and AI tools implementation for Black tech community members.
- VC Matchmaking Investment matching service and dedicated programming segment connecting entrepreneurs and startups with venture capitalists and investors during the annual Black Tech Week conference for deal sourcing and portfolio diversification.
- Career Fair Career-focused event associated with Black Tech Week, connecting job seekers and students with employers and companies attending the conference for talent pipeline access and recruitment.
- Ohio Opportunity Day Day-long event programming segment focused on showcasing business, career, and economic opportunities available within the Ohio region for founders, professionals, and students.
Companies that use Black Tech Week
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Black Tech Week technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Black Tech Week partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Lightship FoundationcoreBlack Tech Week is powered by Lightship Foundation. The foundation also operates Lightship Capital (lightship.capital). Lightship Foundation provides organizational support, infrastructure, and strategic direction for Black Tech Week initiatives.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Black Tech Week competitors and assessment
Company assessmentRegional players
- Plug In South LA: Plug In South LA is a regional tech ecosystem organization supporting underrepresented founders in South Los Angeles through events and programming. It is comparable in its community-driven, founder-support event model, though geographically separated from BTW's Midwest footprint.
- Tech Week: Tech Week operates regional tech conferences (notably in the UK and East Africa) targeting founders, investors, and corporate sponsors. It is comparable as a multi-city, community-driven tech conference brand, but is primarily non-U.S. and therefore does not directly compete for BTW's sponsors.
Emerging players
- Grace Hopper Celebration: Grace Hopper Celebration is the largest annual conference for women and non-binary technologists, run by AnitaB.org. It is a thematic comparable — focusing on an underrepresented group in tech — with a similar mix of founders, students, corporate sponsors, and career-fair programming.
- BLK in Tech: BLK in Tech is an emerging community and event organization for Black technologists, with regional meetups and conferences. It competes for the same audience segment as BTW and represents a grass-roots, community-built alternative with potential to scale into a direct competitor.
- Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit: Black Enterprise hosts entrepreneur- and executive-focused events targeting the Black professional community, with overlapping attendee demographics and a similar corporate-sponsor-funded event model. It represents an adjacent but partial-overlap competitor for sponsors and attendees.
Broad incumbents
- TechCrunch Disrupt: TechCrunch Disrupt is a flagship annual tech conference attracting founders, investors, and operators globally. While not Black-focused, it competes for the same corporate sponsor budgets and overlapping founder/VC audiences, and represents the scale benchmark BTW is working toward.
- SXSW: SXSW is a large-scale culture-and-technology conference that similarly blends founder programming, investor matchmaking, and cultural content. It is a comparable in combining tech and culture in a single multi-day event format, though at vastly larger scale.
- CES (Consumer Electronics Show): CES is the largest annual technology trade show globally, monetizing primarily through corporate exhibitor and sponsor revenue. It is comparable to BTW in being event-driven, sponsor-dependent, and founder/operator-attended, though operating at vastly greater scale.
- Web Summit: Web Summit operates multiple large annual tech conferences (Lisbon, Rio, Vancouver, Qatar) targeting founders, investors, and enterprise buyers. It is a structural comparable for the BTW model of monetizing founders and investors through ticket sales and corporate sponsorships.
Direct peers
- AfroTech (Blavity): Blavity's AfroTech is the largest annual Black tech conference in the U.S., targeting the same founder, investor, and corporate sponsor audience as Black Tech Week. It is the most direct competitive comparable on attendee demographics, sponsorship model, and value proposition.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Black Tech Week social profiles
Digital presenceBlack Tech Week financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Black Tech Week leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Black Tech Week funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Black Tech Week M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Black Tech Week
What does Black Tech Week do?
Black Tech Week operates an annual three-day culture-driven technology and entrepreneurship conference held in Cincinnati, Ohio, gathering Black founders, creators, investors, students, and operators for keynote presentations, panel discussions, workshops, and networking. The core offering is supplemented by regional BTW Meetups across Ohio cities, VC Matchmaking programming, a Career Fair, Ohio Opportunity Day, and Activate at BTW experiential events. Revenue is generated through individual ticket sales, corporate sponsorship packages, and donations processed via Stripe.
Is Black Tech Week a public or private company?
Black Tech Week is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Black Tech Week founded?
Black Tech Week was founded in 2021. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Black Tech Week based?
Black Tech Week is headquartered in Cincinnati, United States, in the North America region.
How does Black Tech Week make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Ticket Sales are the primary driver. The others are sponsorships and donations.
Who are Black Tech Week's main competitors?
Regional players on record are Plug In South LA and Tech Week. Emerging players are Grace Hopper Celebration, BLK in Tech and Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Summit. Broad incumbents are TechCrunch Disrupt, SXSW, CES (Consumer Electronics Show) and Web Summit. AfroTech (Blavity) is listed as a direct peer.
Does Black Tech Week have an API?
No public API is recorded for Black Tech Week.
What industry is Black Tech Week in?
Black Tech Week's product category is Technology Conferences and Events. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHACAB, Corporate Meeting & Conference Planning (Internal/External), with a secondary code of THAHAMAH, Training, Enablement & Talent Development Summits. Its NAICS code is 56192.