Kehlani may have called herself a “beautiful wreck” on her recent single “Honey,” but it looks like she’s working on something to change that circumstance for her and millions of other young people. TechCrunch reported that Kehlani received a $50,000 investment from Arian Hamilton’s Backstage Capital venture capital firm for her Flora startup.
Kehlani told TechCrunch that “bridging the gap between my career, activism & my audience is important to me as a next step,” in her career, and that she’s “honored” to work with Hamilton because of “her consistency in supporting queer women of color.”
The Backstage Capital firm is focused on funding for ideas developed by people of color. The self-proclaimed “artivist” initially reached out to Hamilton to thank her for providing opportunities for queer women of color in tech, then told her about her idea for a startup focused on “curated green content” in the health and wellness area for people aged 16-25. Kehlani worked on developing the app with Alaxic Smith and Reid Williams.
Kehlani posted the TechCrunch article on her Instagram page and said she “hasn’t believed in an idea” like Flora “in a while.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbKboGEgTne/
It’s worth considering that the idea for Flora has considerable personal importance for Kehlani after her suicide attempt last March. Earlier this year, Kehlani broke down and stopped a show because she “felt crazy.” Hopefully she’s past those previous trials and is looking to use Flora to help youth struggling with similar problems.
Hamilton marveled that Kehlani was “at the Soul Train Awards tonight in Vegas where she is up for Best R&B Female, and is still Slacking with her co-founders and me about startup business.”
