Black-Owned Hip-Hop App Wins QQQ’s Startup Pitch Competition

The winner of the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic Startup Pitch Competition has finally been announced. Out of 200 startups who applied to participate in the competition, only one has made it to the finishing line.

Child-friendly music app, Healthy Hip Hop, has officially been crowned the winner of the startup pitch competition. The platform, founded in 2019 by Roy Scott, is an educational app aimed at children, infusing hip-hop culture with innovative technology. 

Last year, Michael B. Jordan announced that the Invesco QQQ startup pitch competition had returned for its second year in partnership with MaC Venture Capital. 

The competition – which was open to all Black founders from HBCUs – gave seed-stage companies with less than $3 million the opportunity to compete to win a range of benefits. 

“2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, so we felt this was a good time for a company called Healthy Hip Hop to start to scale,” said Michael Palank, General Partner at MaC Venture Capital, in an interview with AfroTech. 

“Healthy Hip Hop is already being used by schools and parents alike. Roy Scott – is a Hip-Hop artist who wanted to influence his kids positively. When he realized that his own rap lyrics that his own kids were quoting were about violence, drugs, and disrespecting other people, he knew he needed to find another path.” 

Scott, who has spent over a decade in the music industry, used his first-hand knowledge of hip-hop to produce the Healthy Hip-Hop app. The educational platform aims to put a positive spin on a genre of music that has faced long-standing criticism from the media for its negative impact on youths.  

Children can create custom videos through the app, like TikTok but in a much safer environment. Healthy Hip Hop also hosts various events, including live stream performances and classroom activities encouraging movement and dancing. 

As the competition winner, Roy Scott will receive one-to-one advice and mentorship from Michael B Jordan alongside Invesco, Concrete Rose Capital, and MaC Venture Capital. 

“By getting Healthy Hip Hop’s content into more schools and homes, we can leverage the cultural influence of Hip-Hop combined with positive messaging – to really change how young people see themselves and others in the world,” added Palank.