BLACK UNICORN FACTORY stock & equity tools

Black Unicorn Factory launched in Los Angeles in 2020 under founder and CEO John (Johnny) Stewart, a serial entrepreneur with three decades in startup growth. The company functions as a pre-IPO accelerator that funds early-stage businesses through equity swaps and SEC-compliant alternative mechanisms (Reg CF, Reg A, Reg D) rather than cash. It has issued more than $500 million in equity across 150-plus companies, operates the Follow Me For Equity app (which awards startup equity for social-media promotion tasks), and struck a $110 million stock-for-stock barter agreement with BarterVentures in April 2025. A Nasdaq direct listing application was under review as of August 2025.

Sources: sec.gov · markets.financialcontent.com

Equity comp at BLACK UNICORN FACTORY

• Los Angeles startup accelerator and equity-crowdsourcing platform whose Follow Me For Equity product distributes equity in portfolio companies to gig-worker promoters. Direct employees, if any, are too few to have a standardized RSU program; the company is pursuing a direct listing path to Nasdaq rather than a conventional IPO.

Sources: blackunicornfactory.com

Researched 2026-05-11.