Backstage Capital is no stranger to backing minority companies and supporting great missions — earlier this year we talked to founder Arlan Hamilton after her company announced a $36 million fund focused on investing in black women founders. Now they are turning their attention to accelerators.
In Los Angeles, London, Philadelphia and a fourth city (which will be finalized by public vote), Backstage Capital will launch accelerators to uplift companies led by underrepresented founders.
The companies chosen (they expect about six per city in the first go-round) will be offered $100,000 for 5% equity in the company. Companies will receive mentorship, education, perks from corporate partners and work space. They will also receive access to Microsoft and MailChimp products.
Backstage Capital isn’t your typical accelerator program. Beyond providing opportunities for underrepresented founders, Hamilton said that she expects their approach to Demo Day (a time for startups to show off their business and progress to investors, mentors and investors) to differ from the average. Instead of just preparing founders to crush Demo Day, Backstage Capital will look at tools that will lead teams to overall success in the long run.
Change Catalyst founders Wayne Sutton and Melinda Epler joined up with Backstage Capital and Mark Levy (previously Global Head of Employee Experience at Airbnb) to plan out the program.
Those interested can apply through the end of September for the opportunity.
