VC Fundraising Advice for Black Founders

As a capstone to the 2023 NextGen Accelerator, a founder bootcamp for early-stage student founders from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and universities in Sub-Saharan Africa, four leading Black venture capitalists shared their perspectives on the fundraising landscape for Black founders.

The panel featured Kofi Ampadu, partner at a16z; Daniel Acheampong (Harvard Kennedy School MPA 2020), founder and general partner at Visible Hands; Eunice Ajim, founding partner at Ajim Capital; and Javier Grevely, Boston Chapter co-lead at BLCK VC and an investor at Wellington Management.

Their discussion was wide-ranging, from why only one percent of venture capital money goes to Black founders to what they look for as they decide whether to invest in a startup.