Helen Adeosun just raised $1.5 million dollars for her startup, CareAcademy.com*. As a black female entrepreneur, she’s challenging the norms: on average black women raise only $36,000 for their startups in comparison to $1.3 million dollars raised by a white male for a failed startup.

Adeosun, a former 9th grade school teacher and a member of Teach for America, first started an online platform, SitterCycle, to help families find the ideal nanny. SitterCycle had stemmed from her personal experience of looking after two autistic children. In 2012, when she launched SitterCycle with her personal savings, she was only 25 and still trying to identify the right business model for her idea. Although SitterCycle gained some interest, she saw a greater need for elder care, so she decided to pivot the company after three years, focusing on in-home caregivers for the elderly instead of child care.

Although a $84 billion industry, caregiving lacks some basics, Adeosun says: namely, there is no nationally recognized certification or course to verify that a caregiver has been trained. So she set out to build it.

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