The Pittsburgh Founder Institute and PNC Financial Services Group are announcing a partnership aimed at providing underrepresented aspiring and idea-stage entrepreneurs in the Pittsburgh region receive access to world-class mentorship and startup training. Through this partnership, PNC is sponsoring several Fellowships to allow promising underrepresented founders to attend the upcoming Founder Institute accelerator program for free.
"According to reports from the Federal Reserve, women and BIPOC founders in the United States receive less than 3 percent of annual venture capital investments,” notes Randy Eager, Director of Founder Institute Pittsburgh. “With PNCs generous support we are hoping to inspire and empower underrepresented founders in the region to build fundable startups.”
PNC, one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, has long supported the Founder Institute’s efforts to spur entrepreneurship in Pittsburgh, including providing mentorship and one-on-one guidance to emerging entrepreneurs.
As the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable companies, the Founder Institute helps thousands of aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs each year launch a startup and on get on a path to raising investment. Alumni of the program have raised nearly $2BN in venture capital. The next program in Pittsburgh is accepting applications now, and anyone interested in launching a technology company is invited to apply.
Anyone interested in learning more about the Pittsburgh Founder Institute can learn more at http://fi.co/pittsburgh.
About the Founder Institute
The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses.
Since 2009, our highly-structured accelerator programs have helped entrepreneurs at the earliest stages grow quickly, know what to do next, and make connections with the largest community of startup advisors.
Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, build a co-founding team, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200 cities and 95 countries, the Founder Institute's mission is to empower communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful technology companies worldwide.
About PNC
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.
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Graduates of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $1.75BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/graduates.
