Jewel Burks
She set up Partpic in 2012, a software that allows smartphone users to snap a picture of a piece of hardware to find a replacement without knowing the name of the part or the supplier. The platform enables one to save time and money searching for replacement maintenance, repair and operations part. Burks came up with the idea after a frustration she had while trying to fix her grandfather’s tractor and like others, she found it difficult attracting venture capitalists. Later, she raised more than $2 million in seed funding and closed deals with distributors and retailers. She sold her company to Amazon in 2016 and is currently researching new funding models for women and people of colour.
