Jewel Burks Solomon

Jewel Burks Solomon is a tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and advocate focused on expanding access to the innovation economy. As co-founder of Partpic, a startup that streamlined the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision, Burks Solomon and her team developed technology that changed how people locate products. The concept originated from her experience at McMaster-Carr, an industrial-parts distributor, where she observed that customers often struggled to identify or describe parts. Partpic secured over $2 million in seed funding and integrated its software into mobile apps and websites for major parts distributors and retailers. Burks Solomon presented Partpic's visual search technology at the White House Demo Day.

Burks Solomon negotiated the sale of Partpic to Amazon, where she led the integration of its technology into the Amazon Mobile App, launching it to millions of users as PartFinder. During her time at Amazon, she mentored, advised, and invested in early-stage, Black-led startups, which highlighted the opportunity to support Black founders in the technology and venture capital sectors. Prior to founding Partpic, Burks Solomon held management, enterprise sales, and strategic diversity roles at McMaster-Carr Industrial Supply and Google.

Burks Solomon served as head of Google for Startups, US, where she worked to support underserved startup founders by providing access to Google's resources and networks. She established the Black Founders Fund and Latino Founders Fund, which have distributed significant non-dilutive funding to entrepreneurs. As the first head of Google for Startups in the U.S., Burks Solomon advocated for underrepresented founders in the startup ecosystem.

Burks Solomon is managing partner at Collab Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund investing in economic mobility, healthcare access, and community infrastructure. At Collab Capital, she contributed to designing an alternative capital structure to help Black founders retain ownership and build generational wealth. The firm has invested in startups such as Hairbrella and SparkCharge, a mobile electric vehicle charging company.

Burks Solomon has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, Ebony Magazine Power 100, and Atlanta's 100 Most Influential People. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Wired, TechCrunch, Essence, Glamour, and Business Insider. She is a regular contributor on NPR's Marketplace Tech and The Karen Hunter Show on SiriusXM. Burks Solomon is a member of Kauffman Fellows and the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. A graduate of Howard University, her career spans entrepreneurship, technology innovation, and venture capital, with a focus on equity and the future of technology.