Venture Capitalists are on track to give $100B to startups in 2018 — a record amount. While that number is optimistic for people trying to start their own businesses, how much of those dollars are going to black founders?
According to Forbes, less than 1 percent of VC backed startups are run by black founders. That number is striking, yes, but why does this disparity exists? Why are the inventions, businesses, and ideas of black creators and entrepreneurs not being funded at the same rate as everyone else’s?
For the next three months we’ll be partnering with Founder Gym to explore why this gap in VC funding exists and what black founders can do to secure their own bag and get their ideas off the ground.
We’ll hear from experts about the unique challenges black founders face and what they can do to overcome them. The first part of the series can be found here.
Mandela SH Dixon, the CEO of Founder Gym, and her team have been working tirelessly to train underrepresented founders about the best ways to launch their companies and we’re excited for them to offer insight to our AfroTech family.
Here’s how the series will work:
- We’ll be publishing three articles over the next three months focusing on a different aspect of raising capital.
- You’ll have a chance to hang out with Mandela SH Dixon, CEO of Founder Gym, , and ask her any questions you have about how to raise capital and how to run your own startup. She’ll be taking over the AfroTech Instagram for a day and will be ready to answer your questions.
- The information doesn’t stop there! We want to keep hearing from you. What have your struggles been trying to launch your own business? What concerns keep you up at night? Hit us up on Twitter and and we’ll answer your questions. We want to hear your stories.
We’re excited to partner with Founder Gym on this project and we can’t wait to give you the advice you need to get your business off the ground.
