Two Howard University alumni have secured a $100,000 equity and licensing deal from their alma mater for Tree Technologies, the company behind Rooted, a campus application that has already drawn more than 2,000 users at Howard.
Jayson Johnson and Noah Adeyeye developed Rooted as a tool designed to serve the Howard community, and the app's early adoption signals genuine demand for what they've built. The deal structure—combining both equity and licensing rights—represents Howard University's formal backing of the founders' entrepreneurial vision and their commitment to keeping the platform connected to campus life.
This investment reflects a broader institutional recognition at Howard that student-led ventures deserve support and resources. HBCUs have long been incubators of Black excellence and innovation, and Howard's willingness to put capital behind alumni entrepreneurs demonstrates how that legacy can extend beyond the classroom into the startup ecosystem. The deal sends a signal that the university sees value not just in the app itself, but in the founders' ability to build and scale.
Rooted's user base of over 2,000 at Howard suggests the app has found a genuine niche—whether addressing a gap in campus communication, community building, or another student need. That traction is what likely made the deal attractive to the university's decision-makers. Rather than betting on an untested concept, Howard is investing in something with demonstrated product-market fit within its own community.
The structure of the deal also matters. By taking an equity stake alongside licensing rights, Howard positions itself as both a stakeholder in Tree Technologies' success and a customer of the platform. This dual relationship could provide the founders with both capital and the kind of institutional validation that helps young companies attract additional investors and users beyond the Howard campus.
For Johnson and Adeyeye, the deal represents validation of their work and resources to grow. A $100,000 injection can fund product development, marketing, hiring, or expansion to other campuses. It also creates a template: other HBCU alumni with promising ventures now have a concrete example of how their institutions might support them.
Why this matters: This deal exemplifies how HBCUs can leverage their unique position as communities of trust and innovation to nurture Black entrepreneurship from within. When universities invest in their own students' and alumni's ventures, they're not just funding companies—they're building wealth within the Black community and demonstrating that HBCU networks remain powerful engines of opportunity long after graduation. Rooted's success at Howard could inspire similar investments across the HBCU ecosystem, creating pathways for student innovators to scale their ideas with institutional backing.