Who is Christopher Gray?
Christopher Gray was the first in his family to go to college. Searching on his own for ways to pay for school, he won about $1.3 million in scholarships to attend Drexel University in Philadelphia, and the experience led him to co-found Scholly with two classmates. The app matched students with scholarships they were eligible for, aimed at the large sums of aid that go unclaimed each year. Gray pitched in Shark Tank Season 6 and took $40,000 from Lori Greiner and Daymond John in a pitch that set off a heated argument among the sharks, several of whom walked off the set.
The episode brought tens of thousands of download requests within hours. Scholly grew to about 5 million users and reported helping students win roughly $100 million in scholarships. Sallie Mae approached the company in early 2023, and the acquisition closed in July 2023, making Scholly one of the first Black-founded tech companies bought by a bank; the app became free after the deal. Gray stayed on to lead Scholly after the acquisition, and the combined companies funded scholarships and grants for HBCU students and institutions.
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