OneKIN, a mission-driven technology company powering the future of retail for small businesses, has been selected for the Mastercard Start Path global startup engagement program, according to a press release issued by the company.
OneKIN is joining the In Solidarity pathway, which is exclusively dedicated to supporting early-stage startups led by traditionally underrepresented fintech founders.
The company will be able to leverage Mastercard’s expertise, resources and global customer base, furthering oneKIN’s efforts in becoming a leading retail-tech solution for small businesses across the country.
“We’re thrilled to co-innovate from the community level with a strong technology brand like Mastercard,” said Jennifer Gomez, cofounder and CMO of oneKIN. “It is the ideal partner to scale oneKIN’s efforts to improve the current climate for small businesses and to close the growing wealth gap in the U.S.”
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Founded in 2017, oneKIN has spent the last five years investigating common pain points of small businesses, and building creative and cost-effective, tech-enabled solutions to help them compete in the digital landscape.
Following its proof-of-concept, the award-winning oneKIN marketplace, the company will soon launch oneKIN liveTM, its livestream app for shopping local, small businesses. Featuring integrated livestream, chat, and shopping, oneKIN liveTM merges the intimacy of in-person shopping experiences with the broad reach and convenience of e-commerce.
With a focus on community buying and selling, oneKIN liveTM will tap into the booming livestream shopping market, which hit $300 billion in China in 2021 and is estimated to reach $25 billion in the U.S. by 2023, according to Coresight Research, a global advisory and research firm.
In 2021, the company expanded its business to St. Louis after receiving a $50,000 equity-free grant through Arch Grants annual Startup Competition and recently graduated from the St. Louis-based Capital Innovators accelerator program. Since its midwest expansion, oneKIN has collaborated with local government, universities and various public and private stakeholders to help digitize and reinvigorate the small business community in disinvested neighborhoods across St. Louis—a model for their future work across the country.
“Our focus on small businesses is undergirded by the belief that communities flourish when small businesses flourish,” said Marvin François, oneKIN cofounder and CEO. “They serve as economic spigots in their neighborhoods and can catalyze socio-economic change. Too often technological advancements have shuttered the doors of local, small businesses. We’re here to change that.”
As part of its commitment to building generational wealth and sustainable communities, oneKIN launched a ‘community round’ via WeFunder to give non-accredited investors and individuals the opportunity to invest in the company.
