2023年6月12日

Tech.eu Tech.eu見解產生的洞察力和指導策略,其全麵的內容和報告。瀏覽內容流行見解。黑色種子啟動基金支持黑色英國創業者持有首次收於£500萬Atomico熔融企業和LocalGlobe第一批投資者在黑色的種子,一隻新基金針對黑英國的創始人。我們都知道黑人企業家,像女人一樣,有低得離譜的機會比白人提高風險投資的創業公司。我們甚至知道比例在英國由於擴展企業的研究:隻有0.24%的資金在黑色的創始人在英國在過去的十年。感謝Atomico研究的努力,我們也知道人的色彩感覺很一般。考慮上麵的糟糕的統計,有什麼可奇怪的嗎?雖然即將發生變化,然而緩慢。去年,非傳統的企業提出了一個新基金的€3000萬投資未被充分代表的創始人在歐洲,盡管穀歌建立了一個新的400萬美元的基金針對黑色歐洲科技創業者。今天,一個名為黑色種子的新基金宣布,它提高了£500萬的就職£1000萬基金投資於黑英國的創始人。 Well-known UK-based VC firms such as Atomico, LocalGlobe and Molten Ventures participated in bankrolling the new fund, alongside WestRiver Group. Asset management firm M&G took care of leading the round, which also includes contributions from angel investors such as Sam Branson, Dorothy Chou and Lord Mervyn Davies. Black Seed was established as a fund for black entrepreneurs by Karl Lokko and Cyril Lutterodt in 2021, when the two men found that black British founders were, in their words, "over-mentored and under-funded". They were later joined by Yvonne Nagawa, who took the role of Chief of Staff at the fledgling investment firm. Partnering with VC platform Vauban enabled Black Seed to get to first close, alongside the fund's community events. They also received support from various partners, including Hogan Lovells, NatWest and Milltown Partners. The firm says it is not only building a fund, but creating a veritable community of black entrepreneurs and a "pipeline" with the ambition of "nurturing black talent for the benefit of the entire tech and investor ecosystem". One entrepreneur Black Seed is already working with is Gabriel Makinwa, founder and CEO of GigBridge, an online application connecting construction workers with relevant jobs. Makinwa said: “Black founders like me are not short on advice. What’s missing is the access to capital to help us grow our businesses, employ people and pioneer the tech-enabled enterprises that will shape the future.” Saul Klein, partner at Phoenix Court Group (which LocalGlobe is a part of), said: “We’re delighted to be supporting Black Seed with the first close of their inaugural fund. For too long, venture capital has remained a closed-off, exclusive club and that has had a negative impact on the types of products that get built." "It’s not enough to try to right these wrongs with more money, new funds like Black Seed, as well as the entrepreneurs they will back, need to have access to best practices and networks too in order to build up and nurture black talent. We’re excited for the potential of Black Seed and look forward to working closely with Karl and Cyril to empower an underrepresented generation of innovators,” Klein added.