Black-Led Venture Capital Firms That Are Funding Overlooked Innovation
Despite discouraging trends and statistics around funding for Black founders, Black investors and fund managers avert the status quo and continue making tremendous strides in venture capital and tech entrepreneurship. From Arlan Hamilton and Monique Woodard to Charles Hudson and Austin Clements, each has helped not only to create an inclusive and equitable playing field for other entrepreneurs but to sow seeds of inspiration into the lives of up-and-coming VCs of color. As we applaud their—and dozens of others’—accomplishments and contributions to the space, here are 40 Black-led and Black-founded VC firms to look out for this year.
Pre-Seed Stage Firms
Authentic Ventures | Verticals: FinTech, Software, Travel, Education, Health Care
Founded in 2016, Authentic Ventures is a Oakland, CA-based seed and early-stage venture capital firm that uses its diverse network of talent to help companies succeed. It has a particular focus on women and minority founders.
Backstage Capital | Verticals: Health Care, e-Commerce, Software
With 200 investments and counting since 2015, Backstage capital is a venture capital fund that invests in new promising startups led by underrepresented founders at pre-seed, seed, and Series A+ stages.
Base | Verticals: SaaS, FinTech, e-Commerce, Travel
Founded in 2016, Base Ventures is a venture capital firm that invest in technology companies with “exceptional founders” and “disruptive ideas.”
Black Star Fund | Verticals: Health Care, Food and Beverage, e-Commerce, Consumer
Black Star Fund, which was founded in 2018, is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in innovations and founders in the U.S. and Africa.
Capitalize | Verticals: FinTech, AdTech, Future of Work, CPG
Based in the Windy City, Capitalize VC invest in Black and Latinx pre-seed and early stage founders with the hope to connect them to a diverse community of investors and advisors.
Collide Capital | Verticals: SaaS, Supply Chain, Software
Collide Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies from pre-seed to Series A with a focus on supply chain infrastructure, transformational enterprise SaaS, and Gen-Z minded consumer software.
Concrete Rose | Verticals: FinTech, Health
Concrete Rose is an early-stage fund that was founded in 2019 and focuses on capitalizing underrepresented founders, investing in companies serving underrepresented consumers, and supporting early-stage companies to build diverse teams.
Debut Capital | Verticals: Agnostic
Launched in 2019, Debut Capital invests in Black, Latinx, and Indigenous founders who are creating influential businesses to shape the future into the revolutionary world it is meant to be.
Fearless Fund | Verticals: e-Commerce/Retail, FinTech
Headquartered in Atlanta, Fearless Fund invests in women of color-led businesses with the mission to bridge the VC funding gap and help women of color entrepreneurs to build scalable, growth-aggressive companies.
Gateway Capital Partners | Verticals: Agnostic
Based in Milwaukee, Gateway Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups with the intent to support founders from low-to-moderate income (LMI) communities to gain traction.
Kapor Capital: Education, Finance, Justice, Food, Health
Kapor Capital, based in Oakland, CA, invests in seed stage startups to bridge access gaps, expand economic opportunity, and leave a lasting positive impact on society and the economy. Their entrepreneur community focuses on people of color, women, and those from historically underrepresented groups.
RareBreed Ventures: Software, Customer Acquisition Strategy
RareBreed Ventures, founded by Mac Conwell II, is a Baltimore-based pre-seed stage venture capital fund that invests in tech companies with exceptional founders
Seed Stage Firms
Cake Ventures | Verticals: Aging, Longevity
Cake Ventures, founded by Monique Woodard, invest in founders of seed and pre-seed companies that reflect changing demographics, such as aging and longevity, the increasing spending power of women, and the shift to majority-minority.
Cleo Capital | Verticals: CleanTech, Software, EdTech/Education, InsurTech
Cleo Capital, which was founded in 2018, invests in pre-seed companies with a focus on the future of income, complicated consumer, and decentralized enterprise.
Cleveland Avenue | Verticals: Consumer Goods, Food and Beverage, Retail Technology
Cleveland Avenue is a venture capital firm that invests various companies across industries and locations. Past ventures include Beyond Meat, Ayo Foods, and Footprint.
Echo VC | Verticals: AgTech, FinTech, Health Care, Education, Enabling Tech, CleanTech, COVID-19 Innovation
Based in Lagos, Nigeria, and empowered by its local and global connections, Echo VC works to bring a disruptive approach to investing by supporting the technological intersection of consumer, media, data, and devices.
Elevate Capital | Verticals: Health Care, Software, SaaS, Lifestyle
Elevate Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in underserved and overlooked entrepreneurs with a vision and purpose of starting and scaling their businesses. They also strive to invest early and offer mentorship to founders.
Exposition Ventures | Verticals: 3D Printing, AI/ML, Robotics, Blockchain, Big Data
Exposition Ventures is a Chicago-based venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building and scaling hardware and software companies that enable the digital transformation of the infrastructure of doing business.
Impact America Fund | Verticals: FinTech, EdTech, Health Care, e-Commerce
Launched in 2014, Impact America Fund is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage founders of color using technology to broaden the path to economic opportunity in America. Their mission is to build an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, funders, institutions, and others to grow and support portfolio companies and compound collective impact.
Kindred Ventures | Verticals: Blockchain, Crypto, Fintech, e-Commerce, Market Places
Located in San Francisco and founded in 2014, Kindred Ventures is a venture capital fund that has invested in more than 100 world-changing technology startups and support hem as they solve the most important problems and improve people’s lives around the world.
Lightship Capital | Verticals: Health, Software, AI
Lightship Capital is a venture capital fund situated in the Midwest and dedicated to offer underrepresented founders an alternative to traditional funding. Their approach is to leverage corporate partnerships and organizations from the Midwest to build sustainable local ecosystems led by women, people of color, and other underestimated founders.
MaC Venture Capital | Verticals: FinTech, IT
MaC Venture Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology startups leveraging shifts in cultural trends and behaviors.
Lockstep Ventures | Verticals: Supply Chain, Transportation
Based in New York, Lockstep Ventures invests in overlooked visionaries of color and companies impacting racial disparities in the United States.
Serena Ventures | Verticals: Health Care, FinTech, e-Commerce
Serena Ventures, founded by tennis star Serena Williams, invests in opportunities that make the everyday lives of everyday people better. The firm’s focus is to unlock value for investors and doors for founders.
Sixty8 Capital | Verticals: Industry-agnostic; Direct-to-Consumer
Sixty8 Capital, based in the Midwest region, is a seed-stage fund for Black, Brown, Women, and LGBTQ-led startups. Per their website, Sixty8 Capital focuses its efforts on supporting undercapitalized founders and innovators in flyover states (Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio).
Slauson & Co. | Verticals: SMB SaaS, Consumer Tech
Based in Los Angeles, Slauson & Co. is an early-stage venture capital firm rooted in economic inclusion with a focus on investing SMB Tech and supporting the next generation of small business owners.
Zane Venture Fund | Verticals: Industry-agnostic; post-product
Zane Venture Fund invests in early-stage companies with founders from diverse backgrounds in the Southeast region. Their investments focus on bold founders of tech-enabled solutions with innovative business models, and signs of early traction.
Series A Stage Firms
645 Ventures | Verticals: SaaS, Infrastructure and Security, Consumer Tech
645 Ventures is an early-stage firm that partners with exceptional founders who are building iconic companies that scale to the growth stage.
Black Founders Matter | Verticals: e-Commerce, Health Care, Mobile Game
Black Founders Matter is a $10-million seed-stage fund the invests in Black founders throughout the United States. Featured investments include Saysh by Olympic track and field star Allyson Felix, HUED, and Glow Up Games.
Devland | Verticals: Deeptech, Advanced Data, SaaS, Robotics, AI
Based in Houston, Devland is an early stage firm that invests in new innovative ventures with technologists and underestimated entrepreneurs.
Latimer Ventures | Verticals: Insurance, Cybersecurity, FinTech, Frontier Enterprise, Health Care
Latimer Ventures is a Baltimore-based venture capital firm that seeks to invest in the next generation of Black and Hispanic enterprise SaaS unicorns. Named after Lewis Latimer, the self-taught Black inventor who helped design and patent the light bulb and the telephone, Latimer Ventures focuses on generating top-level returns and helping diverse founders win.
New Voices Fund | Verticals: AI, Health Care, Software
Located in New York, New Voices Fund is a venture capital firm that focuses on building purposeful businesses that serve the needs of underserved and marginalized consumers and communities.
Plain Sight Capital | Verticals: Health Tech, Business Support Tech, Ed-Tech
Plain Sight Capital, based in Philadelphia, is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage tech and tech-enabled companies led by underrepresented founders.
Precursor Ventures | Verticals: Health Care, FinTech, SaaS, e-Commerce
Founded in 2015, Precursor Ventues has invested in more than 200 companies that address issues in software, hardware, consumer and enterprise sectors. The firm’s focus is on founders entering new markets to solve the world’s toughest problems.
PS27 Ventures | Verticals: FinTech, HealthTech, e-Commerce, Food and Beverage, SaaS
PS27 Ventures ia an early-stage venture capital firm with the mission to empower women, veterans, entrepreneurs of color with solutions in SaaS, FinTech, Sustainability, and HealthTech.
Reign Ventures | Verticals: e-Commerce, Software, AI, B2B, IT
Reign Ventures thrives on community and invests in startups that harness the power of community, capital and tech to solve big problems. Based in New York, the early-stage investing firm works to connect founders with great potential with a supportive network of people.
The 22 Fund | Verticals: Hardware, Manufacturing
Stanford University’s The 22 Fund invests in tech-based manufacturing companies to increase international sales (exports), creating clean quality jobs of the future in the U.S.
Zeal Capital Partners | Verticals: FinTech, Future of Work
Zeal Capital Partners is a venture capital fund seeking to generate top-tier financial and social returns by partnering with strong management teams with diverse backgrounds and skillsets who are building early-stage businesses.
Series A+ Stage Firms
Base 10 | Verticals: SaaS, FinTech, e-Commerce
Base10, located in San Francisco, is an early-stage venture capital firm partnering with entrepreneurs who are bringing automation to traditional sectors of the economy.
Celesta Capital | Verticals: AI/ML, Semiconductor, Hardware
Formerly known as WRVI Capital, Celesta is a leading venture capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs and disruptive technologies. Headquarters in California, the firm seeks to empower founding teams and drive continuous and measurable progress to its portfolio companies.
Gingerbread Capital | Verticals: EdTech, Health Care, Wellness, e-Commerce
Founded in 2016, Gingerbread Capital is a venture capital firm that focuses on investing in and supporting women founders and entrepreneurs leading high-growth businesses.
Harlem Capital | Verticals: Software, Fintech, Health Care, e-Commerce
Founded in 2015, Harlem Capital is a venture capital firm that is focused on changing the face of entrepreneurship by investing in 1,000 founders within a 20-year period. While founders of all backgrounds receive support form HCP, the firm remains committed to supporting women and minority founders.
Panoramic Ventures | Verticals: Health Care Tech, Infrastructure Software, SaaS, Web3
Based in Atlanta, Panoramic Ventures invest in diverse founders and university startups throughout the Southeast and Midwest regions. The focus of the firm is to open doors for overlooked founders and offer more access to capital to build leading tech companies.
Reach Capital | Verticals: EdTech, Parent, SaaS
Reach Capital is a venture capital firm that is dedicated to investing in the most inspiring and engaging educational tools to help educators and families realize children’s potential.
Steel Sky Ventures | Verticals: Health Care, Women’s Tech, Biotechnology, Medical
Based in Atlanta, Steel Sky Ventures invests in companies that improve access to care and outcomes in women’s health. With more than 15 portfolio companies and $73 million in assets, Steel Sky Ventures is the leading women’s health fund.
Swanlaab Venture Factory | Verticals: B2B Software
Swaanlab Venture Factory invests in founders of all backgrounds with a specific focus on minority and women founders.
We hope this list of venture capital firms and funds inspires not only Black and Brown founders to hone in on the support that is available to them to scale their endeavors, but also to empower future investors and ecosystem changemakers to envision themselves at the helm of transforming venture capital for the better.
Let us know in the comments what Black and Brown-led firms you have your eye on in 2023.
