Venture capital firm Harlem Capital just hit a new milestone in its mission to invest in 1,000 diverse founders over the course of 20 years.
Last week, the company announced it had raised $40.3 million to an oversubscribed fund.
"What we're focused on is seed and Series A companies that are run by minority and women founders," managing partner Henri Pierre-Jacques told Cheddar on Monday. Venture partner Brandon Bryant agreed, saying to increase the number of minority- and women-run startups, "you need to start by deploying capital."
Pierre-Jacques and Bryant joined Cheddar the same day PitchBook announced venture capital investment in all-female founding teams has hit a record high of 2.8 percent of capital invested across the U.S. in startups. But that is still a very small sliver of the VC funding that has been distributed.
To remedy the low percentage of investment into female-founded companies Pierre-Jacques said: "you need more diversity-focused funds."
The "industry-agnostic" fund invests between $250,000 and $1 million per organization and so far has invested in nine companies in nine cities. Pierre-Jacques said New York and Los Angeles have been their best cities so far. San Francisco will finally enter Harlem Capital's portfolio next month.
"We just don't see a lot of people of color coming from San Francisco," Pierre-Jacques said.
Bryant said the company's media presence has helped the fund attract more companies than it can fund.
"There's definitely not a pipeline problem," Bryant said, noting 50 percent of "our flow comes from management teams reaching out to us."
Seth Schachner, Managing Director at StratAmericas, weighs in on Spotify earnings and why that headline-grabbing deal with Joe Rogan could be worth that $250 million.
Mitch Roschelle, Managing Director at Madison Ventures, shares why investors may be waiting longer than expected for those interest rate cuts, and why he’s watching tech, oil, and homebuilder stocks.
Amazon saw 24% growth in their Thursday Night Football audience in 2023. Subscribers will be rewarded with even more sports, but not without enduring more ads — unless they pay extra, of course.
Low unemployment + 350 thousand new jobs in January = ...more layoffs? A bunch of tech and retail companies have laid and are laying off employees after a nationwide hiring surge during the pandemic.
The most magical place on Earth wants a protective order to keep Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointees from knowing how the magic happens. A federal judge dismissed a separate Disney lawsuit last week.
Just days before the 49ers and Chiefs play in Las Vegas, Joe Pompliano, Investor at Pomp Investments and author of the Huddle Up Newsletter, discusses why he thinks this could be the most-watched Super Bowl in history.
Chris Versace of Tematica Research LLC shares his thoughts on Jerome Powell's latest comments, the timing of those crucial rate cuts, and what semiconductor stocks he's watching closely.
