Stemuli, a gaming company incorporating AI, education, and workforce development, has announced a merger with two businesses, Infinity.careers and Oppti, to join its team.

Taylor Shead, founder and CEO of Stemuli, said the company will add Naomi Thomas, founder of Infinity.careers and Khiry Kemp, founder of Oppti, as the heads of digital and operations, respectively.

“This merger marks an important milestone for both Black entrepreneurs and the edtech industry as a whole,” Shead said in a statement. “We are excited to join forces and bring our collective expertise to create a company that truly empowers students and addresses the needs of the education system. We believe that education is the key to unlocking opportunities and driving social and economic mobility, and we are committed to making that a reality for students across the country.”

The three founders met in Jobs for the Future's (JFF) Entrepreneur in Residence incubator, JFF's innovation lab, which brings together talented and driven entrepreneurs to collaborate and solve real-world problems.

By coming together, the group hopes to maximize opportunities in the edtech space and get access to capital to grow the business.

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, access to capital is a significant barrier for Black entrepreneurs. Despite making up over 13 per cent of the U.S. population, Black-owned businesses only receive less than one per cent of venture capital.

“Stemuli is a shining example of what can happen when we bring together and incubate talented and driven entrepreneurs to collaborate and catalyze new ways to support people facing systemic barriers to advancement,” Kristina Francis, executive director of JFFLabs, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to see the success of our program in action, and we look forward to seeing the impact this merger will have on the future of learning.”