What ByBlacks.com does

ByBlacks.com, Inc. is a privately held Canadian online magazine founded in 2013 and headquartered in Whitby, Ontario, operating as a digital media platform serving the Black Canadian community. The platform publishes news, opinion, and entertainment content and has expanded into 12 expert-authored verticals (Fashion, Food, Health, Legal, Marketing, Money, Motivation, Parenting, Real Estate, Sex & Relationships, Technology, Travel), a Black Business Directory with hundreds of listings, a Profiles section covering artists, business leaders, and personalities, and community programming including the annual People's Choice Awards (since 2018), Black Restaurant Week across five provinces, and The Father Project.

The site is built on the open-source K2 content management framework developed by Nuevvo and operates as a free reader-facing publication. There is no proprietary AI, no public API, and no mobile application; the platform is fundamentally a web CMS-based editorial property.

Monetization is driven by advertising and sponsorship sales to brands seeking reach into the Black Canadian market (with named examples including SheaMoisture and a Shoppers Drug Mart franchise owner), supplemented by Sponsored Profiles and Client Press Releases offerings, and supported by Government of Canada funding. The company employs 11-50 people, is founder/owner-operated with no disclosed institutional investment, and operates exclusively within Canada.

Name

ByBlacks.com

Legal name

ByBlacks.com, Inc.

Website

https://byblacks.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ByBlacks.com is a Canadian online magazine founded in 2013 that serves the Black Canadian community with news, opinion, entertainment, expert columns across 12 categories, a business directory, and the annual People's Choice Awards.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Media Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Online Article & Blog Publishing Platforms (MPAJAMAF)

Keywords

• Online magazine publishing
• Digital media platform
• Cultural content publishing
• Business directory services
• Advertising and sponsorships

Headquarters

HQ city

Whitby

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Advertising and Sponsorship: ByBlacks.com generates revenue through advertising sold to businesses and brands seeking to reach its Black Canadian audience. The site has a Media Kit section and an Advertise page indicating commercial advertising options. Sponsored Profiles section also suggests paid content partnerships with brands.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

ByBlacks.com operates a digital online magazine and content platform serving the Black Canadian community. The platform publishes editorial content across news, opinion, entertainment, profiles, and 12 expert category columns (Fashion, Food, Health, Legal, Marketing, Money, Motivation, Parenting, Real Estate, Sex & Relationships, Technology, Travel). It also maintains a directory of Black-owned businesses and professionals, hosts the annual People's Choice Awards (PCA), and runs the Restaurant Week food promotion event.

Product overview

ByBlacks.com is a web-based online magazine and content platform for Black Canadians. The platform operates as a single unified website combining multiple content verticals: a primary news and opinion publication, The Experts section featuring expert-written content across 12 lifestyle categories, a Profiles section covering Black personalities and businesses, a Black Business Directory, and event-based offerings including the annual People's Choice Awards (PCA), Restaurant Week food promotion, and The Father Project initiative. The platform is funded in part by the Government of Canada and developed using the K2 content management framework.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ByBlacks Online Magazine
• Black Business Directory

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• MadameNoire: MadameNoire is a digital lifestyle publication targeting Black women with editorial verticals and brand-sponsored content. Comparable to ByBlacks.com in multi-vertical content, sponsored profiles, and audience-segmented monetization.
• Blavity: Blavity is a digital media company focused on Black audiences with editorial verticals, sponsored content, and a creator network. It is directly comparable to ByBlacks.com as a content-led, ad and sponsorship supported online magazine serving a Black community.
• Black Enterprise: Black Enterprise is a digital and multimedia company covering Black professionals, entrepreneurship, and wealth-building. It overlaps ByBlacks.com's Profiles and Money/expert verticals and shares an ad-and-sponsorship revenue model.
• The Root: The Root is a long-standing digital publication covering news, opinion, and culture for Black audiences with ad and sponsored content revenue. It is a direct US analogue to ByBlacks.com in audience focus and editorial format.

Emerging players

• Travel Noire: Travel Noire is a digital media brand focused on Black travelers. It overlaps ByBlacks.com's Travel expert column and shares an ad-supported content model, but as a vertical-specific player rather than a general magazine.

Broad incumbents

• Toronto Star: The Toronto Star is a major Canadian daily with digital lifestyle, opinion, and community coverage. Comparable to ByBlacks.com as a content-led, ad-supported Canadian publication, though serving a general audience with no specific Black-Canadian focus.
• CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation): CBC is Canada's national public broadcaster producing news, opinion, and lifestyle content including diversity-focused coverage in the same territory. It is a broad incumbent with overlapping editorial categories rather than a direct Black-focused competitor.
• BET Digital (BET Media Group): BET Digital is the online arm of a major Black-focused media network in entertainment, news, and culture. Comparable in audience and sponsored content, but as part of a large broadcaster portfolio rather than a niche-focused publisher.
• Essence (Essence Digital): Essence is a large legacy Black-focused media brand with extensive editorial, event, and sponsored content operations. It is comparable to ByBlacks.com in audience and verticals but operates at a much larger scale and portfolio breadth.

Regional players

• The Gleaner (North American coverage): The Gleaner is a major Jamaican newspaper with significant Caribbean-Canadian readership and diaspora coverage. It is comparable to ByBlacks.com in serving Black Caribbean-Canadian audiences with editorial and lifestyle content, but its primary editorial home is Jamaica rather than Canada.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ByBlacks
• Facebookfacebook.com/ByBlacksCanada
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/byblacks-com

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ByBlacks.com