Venture Capital Archives - Page 8 of 33 - POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of people of color in tech.

Fearless Fund: VC Fund For WOC Responds To Racial Discrimination Lawsuit From Conservative Activists

Fearless Fund has responded to the lawsuit filed by the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) after it accused them of racial discrimination. What happened? Conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by Edward Blum, brought a lawsuit against Fearless Fund, which supports women of color who own small businesses. The lawsuit accuses Fearless Fund of violating Section 1982 of the Civil Rights Act of 1886, which bars racial bias in private contracts, by opening its grant competition to Black women alone. Lawsuits brought by Blum and the conservative group led

Serial Entrepreneur Who Sold His Tech Firm For 11x Its Revenue Is Raising $50M To Back Founders Of Color

Black tech entrepreneur Luke Cooper aims to raise $50 million by November for his Baltimore-based venture capital firm, Latimer Ventures. Latimer Ventures Latimer Ventures, named in honor of Lewis Latimer, an African American inventor born to fugitive slaves, is a venture capital firm focused on helping the next generation of Black and Hispanic enterprise SaaS unicorns. They source the best seed deals from diverse managers and connect them with tech startups. Cooper founded Latimer Ventures in 2022 to address the lack of capital available to entrepreneurs of color. He plans to

Conservative Activists Behind Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Decision Sues VC Fund For WOC

Conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights, founded by Edward Blum, has brought a lawsuit against Fearless Fund, which supports women of color who own small businesses. Reuters reports that the lawsuit accuses Fearless Fund of violating Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which bars racial bias in private contracts by opening its grant competition to Black women alone. Lawsuits brought by Blum and the conservative group led to the June Supreme Court’s ruling to shut down affirmative action, barring universities and colleges from considering race in their

Black-Owned Diversity-Focused VC Firm Welcomes First Female Partner

Black-owned VC firm Cornerstone V.C, which boasts a diversity-led investment thesis, has hired its first female partner Ella Wales Bonner. Bonner will spearhead the development of Cornerstone’s in-house coaching practice to support the leadership potential of its portfolio companies. Who Are Cornerstone V.C.? Born out of a Black-led angel group, Cornerstone Partners, Cornerstone V.C. firm was founded by Rodney Appiah, Edwin Appiah, and Wilfred Fianko. The early-stage venture capital firm invests in innovative B2B technology solutions in the U.K., launching its first £20 million ($23.9 million) fund last year. Cornerstone V.C. invests in many more

Venture Capital Firm For Immigrant Founders Secures Additional $35M

Unshackled Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm for immigrant founders, has closed its third fund with $35 million. This adds to the $35 million the firm, founded by Manan Mehta and Nitin Pachisia, has already deployed to 80 companies. Unshackled Ventures has also provided over 200 founders with visa sponsorship, immigration support, and a community of resources. Unshackled Ventures The first and only early-stage venture capital fund focused on retaining foreign talent in the U.S., Unshackled Ventures invests in visionary immigrants and has built a place for them to successfully launch a

Fearless Fund Secures Multi-Million Dollar Follow-On Investment

Fearless Fund has announced it has received multi-million dollar follow-on investments from Bank of America, Costco, and Mastercard. Investing In WOC Founded in 2019 by Arian Simone, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Ayana Parsons, Fearless Fund invests in pre-seed, seed level, and series A women of color founders building scalable and growth-aggressive companies. Their portfolio includes Bitsy’s, the clean food and beverage brand co-founded by Gabrielle Union, Melissa Butler’s cruelty-free beauty brand The Lip Bar, Pinky Cole’s Slutty Vegan, and Sevetri Wilson’s Resilia. Read: Resilia Closes $35M Series B, Largest Raise Ever For A

Diverse Teams Facing More Scrutiny Amid Venture Capital Slowdown

A new report by Dropbox DocSend has shed light on the funding divide in the tech industry, particularly regarding race and gender disparities among founders. While 2021 witnessed record-breaking levels of VC funding and increased engagement with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, 2022 proved to be more challenging for historically underfunded founders. Turning tides In 2021, VC funding for early-stage founders experienced a significant boost, with record-breaking funding levels. Historically underrepresented founders also experienced a surge of investor interest driven by DEI-related investment initiatives in response to the murder

Black Investors Raise $6.25M To Create A Black Silicon Valley In London

Early-stage investor Black Seed has raised £5 million ($6.25 million) with aims to create a Black Silicon Valley in London. The South London-based venture firm raised the money as an inaugural fund to invest in and support Black founders by investing in seed-stage startups. Founders Karl Lokko, Cyril Lutterodt, and founding member Yvonne Nagawa launched Black Seed to address the lack of funding Black founders receive in the UK. According to Techcrunch, the firm will focus on early-stage investing, serving as a kind of “family and friends” round for those

We Are Not Who We Think We Are: Getting Candid About Diversity In Tech VC

This article was first published by Rumbi Makanga on Medium. I was asked to give a talk by a London-based company for Black History Month in October 2022. Initially, I was going to title my talk Your Silence Will Not Protect You after the eponymous collection of essays by Audre Lorde and to honour the many silences I have nursed over the years and the vast silences I know countless Black people are forced into in their professional lives. It took a bout of illness in the last days of 2020 to

Black Tech Week Has No DEI Talks; That’s By Design

Black Tech Week, an inclusive tech conference focused on empowering entrepreneurs of color, is set to return to Cincinnati from July 18–20. “There isn’t a single DEI talk at Black Tech Week. That’s by design,” Brian Brackeen shared on Twitter. “‘No DEI talks’ are something that we are proud of.” Brian Brackeen is the founder of facial recognition software company Kairos and managing partner at Cincinnati-based venture capital fund Lightship Capital, which invests in companies led by underepresented founders. He is also the organizer of Black Tech Week. “Black Tech

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