Influencer marketing agency Fanbytes has committed 100,000 towards campaigns for Black-owned businesses and by Black creators.

It further aims to invest 1m over the next 12 months in the hope of kickstarting a new ecosystem of Black talent.

Due to a lack of funding, many Black businesses are unable to elevate their propositions, and Fanbytes data has revealed that while Black creators have a click-through-rate (CTR) of 2.2x more than white influencers, they are often overlooked because they do not fit the typical image of influencers.

These biases are damaging, and perpetuate a cycle of inaccessibility, said Fanbytes founder Tim Armoo: The Fanbytes Fund is here to break the cycle by providing previously inaccessible marketing support, so [brands and creators] can get to the next level and go against this cycle. If we can play a role in this for some of the brightest companies then we can help kick start the next generation of Black-owned companies.

The fund will back consumer-focused businesses "around the 5-15k monthly revenue" mark, for which the paid support is "enough to take them to the next level".

It will fund their influencer marketing campaigns, which will also feature predominantly Black creators.

In recent weeks, many companies and agencies have paid lip service to the Black Lives Matter movement by attempting to reform their practices, yet as Armoo pointed out, most fail to act upon their promises.

Most of the people who are driving this change are not from the community themselves and they are not practitioners - they dont understand the real reasons for the problems these audiences face.

Luckily I am both a working-class and Black boy, who through advertising and tech has pulled himself up, and I also understand the real reasons behind the disparity.

Understanding the messaging and the effectiveness of the influencers' content enables us at Fanbytes to see what companies are missing in their marketing strategy and to bring these creators to the forefront.

Enabled by Fanbytes, the fund is also assisted by its investors including Jerry Bulhmann (Dentu Aegis chief executive), John Taysom and the team at Founders Factory.

If the fund achieves its aims it will provide a helping hand to Black entrepreneurs, and assist overlooked creators receive the attention and payment they deserve.

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Fanbytes Fund aims to create an ecosystem to support Black businesses and creators - The Drum