Pepper Startup Grant

We're small, but we’re here to make a big impact. We took $5,000 out of our savings to turn the initial idea of Pepper into a successfully funded Kickstarter project. Rather than adopting a growth-at-all-costs mentality that usually requires raising venture capital from the very beginning, we hustled for as long as possible so that we could grow our community the way we wanted. Now, we’re giving that $5,000 back every year in the form of a no strings attached grant. But that’s not all: in addition to the grant, we are also committed to providing access to our own networks, resources, exposure, and mentorship opportunities. The Pepper Startup Grant is specifically for Black women business owners, a dynamic group that has been systematically disenfranchised when seeking to acquire the necessary venture capital funding to expand their businesses. We’re here to change that. Pepper was inspired by a passion to change beauty standards for women who are overlooked in the bra industry, now we want to help underrepresented Black entrepreneurs kick start their businesses, in their own way.