With a pool of top talent, a market with plenty of opportunities, and affordable living and working spaces, it’s easy to see why North America is a great place to start a tech company.
However, with the vast number of funding resources available in North America, according to The Leaky Tech Pipeline, roughly 1% of Black Americans and underrepresented founders are backed by venture capital.
Last year, racial inequities in our society came to the forefront, and echoed across the globe. As a result, dozens of new funds, organizations, and resources have been created to push Black American entrepreneurship forward (including the Black American Founder Fellowship, by the Founder Institute.)
If you’re a Black American founder looking for an investment for your startup in North America, then check out this massive list of some of the most important funding sources, regardless of how far along your startup is.
The Founder Institute is currently enrolling in North America. Apply today to build a startup with North America's top entrepreneurs and investors!
Early Stage Funding in North America
Notable Seed Accelerators in North America
A "seed accelerator" is a cohort-based program that typically accepts teams (not solo-founders) with a product (functional prototype or live product) and some form of traction (for example, user, revenue, or team growth). If accepted to a seed-accelerator, a company typically receives a small investment ($15,000-$150,000) in exchange for equity (6-10%). The goal of a seed-accelerator is to help companies accelerate their product or user growth during the program (typically 3-6 months) in order to raise a proper Angel or Seed Round of funding at the "Demo Day" that concludes the program.
- 1863 Ventures Pipeline
- 1871
- Bronze Valley Accelerator
- Cincinnati Chamber Minority Business Accelerator
- CONNECT ALL @ the Jacobs Center
- DivInc
- Dreamit
- FundBlackFounders
- Greenville Chamber Minority Business Accelerator
- Hillman Accelerator
- Impact Ventures Startup Accelerator
- KiwiTech
- MVP Accelerator
- MWBE Accelerator
- NewME
- Nex Cubed, HBCU Founders Program
- Opportunity Hub Entrepreneurship Accelerator
- Plug and Play Tech Center
- PowerMoves
- Rocky Mountain MicroFinance (RMMFI)
- Sistahbiz Global Network
- Smarter in the City
- Startup52
- Tampa Bay Chamber Minority Business Accelerator
- Techstars
- The Farm Accelerator
- Tumml
- Vertical 404 Accelerator
- Y Combinator
Notable Angel Investors in North America
Angel investors are people that typically invest their personal capital in early-stage startups or entrepreneurs, and generally provide only a small one-time investment to help the business grow. They generally provide more favorable terms compared to other types of investors, since they usually invest in the earliest stages of a business, and are more focused on helping startups build a product instead of generating a profit. Angel investors sometimes go by other names, including “informal investors”, “angel funders”, “private investors”, “seed investors”, and “business angels”. Many angel investors are also professional investors and run more advanced venture funds.
Prominent Black American Angels/Micro-VC seed stage investors:
- Alex Nwaka
- Arian Simone
- Ati Okelo Williams
- Brentt Baltimore
- Brian Brackeen
- Candice Matthews Brackeen
- Charles Hudson
- Darius Sankey
- Daymond John
- Ebony Pope
- Eghosa Omoigui
- Erica Duignan Minnihan
- Erik Moore
- Eugene Flood
- Hamet Watt
- Henri Pierre-Jacques
- Jamison Hill
- Jarrid Tingle
- Jewel Burks Solomon
- Joe Hurd
- John Henry
- Jon Gosier
- Kanyi Maqubela
- Ken Coleman
- Lauren Maillian
- Lorine Pendleton
- Michael J. Howard
- Monique Idlett-Mosley
- Monique Woodard
- Paul Judge
- Rodney Sampson
- Simone Castillo
- Stephen DeBerry
- Sydney Sykes
- Timothy Reese
- Troy Carter
- Uriridiakoghene (Ulili) Onovakpuri
- Valerie Mosley
- William Crowder
Angel Investors with a focus on Black Americans and other minorities in startups
- Anthony Saleh
- Aydin Senkut
- Bart Lorang
- Ben Lin
- Benjamin Ling
- Bobby Yazdani
- Brad Holden
- Bradley C. Harrison
- Brett Jackson
- Chamath Palihapitiya
- Daniel Pomp
- David Lee
- David Teten
- David Wanek
- Dharmesh Shah
- Elizabeth Kraus
- Felix Shpilman
- Garry Tan
- Harj Taggar
- Jeff Schox
- Jerry Yang
- Jude Gomila
- Kal Vepuri
- Lance White
- Max Levchin
- Michael Arrington
- Naval Ravikant
- Paul Sethi
- Peter Kellner
- Ram Shriram
- Ryan T. Melohn
- Steve Chen
- Tony L. Chen
Notable Angel Investor Groups and Events in North America
Angel investor groups are networks, or syndicates, of angel investors who pool their resources together to invest more money than would typically be issued with a private angel investment. Most angel networks focus their efforts on sectors or verticals in which members have experience or knowledge, although they are usually open to investments in other areas. In general, investors in groups contribute funds to the group, and a professional syndicate management team chooses the investments. The resources below are both formal angel investor groups, and also events and networks that informally gather many angel investors.
Angel Investor Groups with programs specifically targeting Black Americans and other minorities in startups:
- Black Angel Tech Fund
- Black Angels Miami
- BLCK VC
- Culture Shift Weekend
- Impact America Fund
- LA Black Investors Club
- Pipeline Angels
- Portfolia
- Startup Angels
- Transparent Collective
Growth Stage Funding
Notable Venture Capital Firms in North America
Venture Capital ("VC") firms provide startup or growth equity capital and/or loan capital to promising ventures for returns that are higher than market interest rates, and typically focus on later stage companies. VC firms only invest in companies that have long-term growth potential of at least 10X their investment, and that already have considerable traction (very fast revenue or user growth), a strong team, and a viable product or service. Because of these high standards, generally less than .1% of businesses are funded by venture capital.
There are also many different types of VC firms. The first (and lowest) funding level for VCs is typically called a "Seed Round", which is appropriate for smaller companies that have just recently generated traction and need capital to fuel the fire of growth. After that, rounds of subsequent funding are categorized by letter ("Series-A", "Series-B", "Series-C", and so on), with the investment amount (and maturity of the business receiving funding) getting larger as the letters progress down the alphabet. Some firms invest across many (or all) of these types of rounds, but most specifically focus on one or two of these stages
Prominent Black American Venture Capitalists: Series A and Beyond
- Abyah Nycole Wynn (Twenty65)
- Adeyemi Ajao (Base10 Partners)
- Adina Tecklu (Khosla Ventures)
- AJ Okereke (Amity Ventures)
- Allan Jean-Baptiste (KKR & Co.)
- Arlan Hamilton (Backstage Capital)
- Brian Dixon
- Del Johnson (Backstage Capital)
- Diane Henry (Rogue Capital Collective)
- Earnest Sweat (GreatPoint Ventures)
- Edward Dugger III (Reinventure Capital)
- Elliott Robinson (Bessemer Venture Partners)
- Frederik Groce (Storm Ventures)
- Jacqueline Grant (Abingworth)
- Javaughn Lawrence (Eniac Ventures)
- Jill Ford (Toyota AI Ventures)
- Karen Kerr (GE Ventures)
- Kesha Cash (Impact America Fund)
- Kwame Anku (Black Star Fund)
- Lo Toney (Plexo Capital)
- Marlon C. Nichols (MaC Venture Capital)
- Megan Maloney (General Catalyst)
- Melissa Bradley (1863 Ventures)
- Mercedes Bent (Lightspeed Venture Partners)
- Nasir Qadree (Pier 70 Ventures)
- Nicole J. Walker (Baird Capital)
- Peter Boyce II (General Catalyst)
- Robert F. Smith (Vista Equity Partners)
- Sarah Kunst (Cleo Capital)
- Shauntel (Poulson) Garvey (Reach Capital)
- Tadia James (GingerBread Capital)
- Tyler Dean (Point72 Ventures)
- Tyson Clark (GV)
Venture Capitalists: With a focus on Black Americans and other minorities in startups
- 1863 Ventures
- Accion Venture Lab
- Ascend Ventures
- Aspect Ventures
- Authentic Ventures
- Backstage Capital
- BASE
- Base10 Partners
- Black Angel Tech Fund
- Black Founders Matter
- Black Girl Ventures
- Blue Run Ventures
- Bootstrap Capital
- Brightpath Capital Partners
- Bronze VC
- Brown Venture Group
- Camelback Ventures
- Catalyst Fund
- Cleo Capital
- Collab Capital
- Connectivity Ventures Fund
- digitalundivided
- DiverseCity Ventures
- Dreamit Ventures
- EchoVC Partners
- Fairview Capital
- FEARLESS FUND
- Felicis Ventures
- Floodgate
- Founders First Capital Partners
- GenNx360
- Gingerbread Capital
- GV
- Halcyon Angels
- Harlem Capital
- HBCUvc
- Humble Ventures
- ICV Partners
- ID Ventures
- Impact America Fund
- Intel Capital
- Kapor Capital
- KEC Ventures
- Lightship Capital
- Lowercase Capital
- MaC Venture Capital
- New Age Capital
- New Voices Foundation
- Precursor Ventures
- PS27 Ventures
- Reach Capital
- Realist Ventures
- Reign Ventures
- Reinventure Capital
- Resilient Ventures
- Ribbit Capital
- Rough Draft Ventures
- Serena Ventures
- Social Capital
- SoftTechVC
- SoGal Black Founder Startup Grant
- The Black Founder List
- Upfront Ventures
- Valmo Ventures
- Vertical 404
- Village Capital
- Vista Equity Partners
- WE Venture
Are you a Black American or underrepresented solo-founder, or is your company or idea too early for these funding options?
The Founder Institute is an idea-stage accelerator that works with solo-entrepreneurs, and teams, during the earliest stages of building a business. Through an intensive 3.5 month program, FI participants build their business through a proven structured process, and receive feedback and assistance from over 30+ successful entrepreneurs and investors in Washington DC. Upon completing the program, Graduates join a global network of entrepreneurs and receive ongoing help to get funding and build their business. FI Graduates have raised over $1.85BN in funding, and are building some of the world's fastest growing companies.
Learn more about the Founder Institute at FI.co, join a free startup event in Washington DC, or apply to build a startup in Washington DC today.