Frustrated by the lack of inaction by many traditional VCs, some investors are trying to change the system and close the funding gap. Here we have a list of investors who are mobilizing and deploying capital, building economic power beyond the 1%. While not all of these VCs are 100% focused on funding underrepresented founders, they say they are inclusive and intentional about investing in founders who are women, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQ+, over 50, and people with disabilities. The majority of the list, first created by Allyson
Hive Wealth by Impart Media, a community-first mobile app that helps people grow their wealth and leave a legacy for future generations, officially announced it received $600K in funding from Black Tech Nation Ventures. Through Black Tech Nation Ventures, Hive Wealth is now able to address massive financial inequalities that millions of people of color in the USA experience. “We are thrilled to announce Black Tech Nation Ventures as our first institutional investor,” said Yvette Butler, founder of Hive Wealth. “BTN Ventures and Hive Wealth share a common mission of building generational wealth. We are excited
Amazon Alexa Fund and Alexa Startups have teamed up to open the application round for Black Founders Build with Alexa, a remote four-month program for a cohort of up to 10 Black-founded startups located in North America that demonstrate readiness and ability to deliver novel Alexa integration within the program duration. Each company selected for the program will have an opportunity to receive up to a $100,000 investment from the Alexa Fund and individualized technology support from the Alexa Startups Solution Architect and Business Development teams. Founders will receive invitations
Starting as a listserv, Visible Figures has grown into a support network for Black women in tech. The group’s name is a play off the book and movie Hidden Figures about three Black women — two mathematicians and an engineer — working at NASA in the 1960s. Visible Figures, which has $2.1B in collective capital raised, was formed in 2017 by Stephanie VanPutten, who raised $2million for her own startup. It was launched in response to a report that found only 12 Black women in the world had raised $1M+ in venture capital. In
Founder of femtech startup Ruby Love, Crystal Etienne, joined forces with her husband, Jean, last year to start VC firm CaJE, a VC that focuses on investing in “soil” rounds, similar to a family and friends investing round. Crystal’s own startup has raised $15 million since it was founded in 2016. She bootstrapped the company from its humble beginnings to over $10 million within two years. But she still felt “cajed” many times while entering the new industry with very little help along the way, but overcame every obstacle. Jean ran his
Churpy, a Kenyan fintech startup, has secured a $1 million seed round led by Unicorn Growth Capital. Also participating were Antler East Africa, Nairobi’s business angel network, and a group of Rally Cap LPs. The round will be used to support expansion to Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa. The startup said it wants to transform how businesses manage the debt owed to them by their customers through its Software as a service (SaaS) product – which automates the labor-intensive processes of reconciling incoming payments and invoices that are still predominantly manual for most local
Back in 2020, Black Founders Matter made its first investment in a company called A Kids Book About, founded by Jelani Memory but since then it has invested in one of the most-decorated track star in US history and many others. Here’s the back story. Despite his best effort, Marceau Michel could not secure venture funding, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. What started off as a small T-shirt line that hosted the slogan, Black Founders Matter, to generate revenue for his own company has now turned into an ambitious
Jeeves — which describes itself as “an all-in-one corporate card and expense management platform for global startups” — was valued at $500 million back in September last year when it raised a $57 million Series B. This means it has quadrupled in value in just over six months as it announced last week that it has now raised $180 million in a Series C round that values the company at $2.1 billion. Jeeves only publicly launched in March of 2020, and officially emerged from stealth last June with $31 million
In 2021, venture capital invested just $115 million in digital media globally, a tenth of the $1.1billion it funded in 2015, but not much came to Africa. Digital newsrooms in Africa are reportedly said to be more likely to receive story grants than business funding, with a few exceptions like OMG Digital. Of the reported $4.3–$5 billion raised by African startups in 2021 where fintech received 53–63% of the volume, digital media companies are one of many sectors that have traditionally been overlooked in the conversation of tangible ventures. But last week Big Cabal
After struggling to connect with top technologists and designers, Ronnie Kwesi Coleman co-founded Meaningful Gigs two years ago. The inspiration drew from Coleman’s desire to specifically connect Black product designers and developers around the world with better job opportunities. Now – the company has raised $6million. The seed round was led by Stage 2 Capital with participation from Rethink Education, Authentic Ventures, Reach Capital, Marla Blow, Zvi Band, and Michele Perry. Stage 2 Capital partner, Mandy Cole told TechCrunch, “With the shortage of highly skilled talent and the increasing need for diverse
