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."
A flow of recent data from the U.S. government has made one thing strikingly clear: A surge in consumer spending is fueling strong growth, demonstrating a resilience that has confounded economists, Federal Reserve officials and even the sour sentiments that Americans themselves have expressed in opinion polls.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning parents and caregivers not to buy or serve certain pureed fruit pouches marketed to toddlers and young children because the food might contain dangerous levels of lead.
Some pumpkin farmers in the West, particularly wholesalers in places like Colorado and New Mexico, are feeling the pinching effects of drought.
General Motors and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative contract agreement that could end a six-week-old strike against Detroit automakers, three people briefed on the deal said.
Apple's 8pm ET event Monday will revolve around its iMAC computer lineup of products which are expected to contain its new faster and three next-generation silicon chip.
McDonald's reported better-than-expected profit and sales in the third quarter.
Major stock indexes are slated to close lower this month as investors brace for the Federal Reserve's rate decision and ahead of new jobs data.
The Food and Drug Administration issued an alert and specifically mentioned 26 eye drop products from a number of brands.
Workers at a number of pharmacy chains nationwide were planning a walkout Monday and going through Wednesday.
President Joe Biden on Monday will sign a sweeping executive order to guide the development of artificial intelligence — requiring industry to develop safety and security standards, introducing new consumer protections and giving federal agencies an extensive to-do list to oversee the rapidly progressing technology.
