Thanks to an emerging fund, Black entrepreneurs are finally getting the support they’ve been waiting on.
Black Tech Nation — a multi-faceted tech organization — is described as building a “#DigitalWakanda through education, digital media, recruitment, and funding” for a family of “Black coders, innovators, creators, entrepreneurs, educators, and nerds,” according to the company’s website.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Black Tech Nation general partner Kelauni Jasmyn declared the firm’s goal is to simply “get more Black people funded.”
Jasmyn, alongside the rest of her team, has been working hard to make this a reality for the Pittsburgh-based organization through its newly-created $50 million first fund with the help of fellow GPs Sean Sebastian and David Motley.
Super excited to be among the ranks of VCs purposefully putting #VentureCapital behind #BlackTech, Black-led startups, and entrepreneurs of color! @blacktechnation is more than a community…it's a #DigitalWakanda. Now let's build. 😎 https://t.co/S8TSP2SpNj
— Kelauni Jasmyn (@Kelauni_Jasmyn) March 5, 2021
“We’re really at the beginning of something brand new, that I think will be historic and offer a literal economic shift for the Black community in building generational wealth,” Jasmyn told TechCrunch. “We get to be the ones who mold the foundation of that.”
Sebastian — a partner at seed fund Birchmere Ventures — suggested to TechCrunch that in addition to Jasmyn’s expertise, he and Motley would be contributing a “transfer of knowledge” to help empower Black Tech Nation’s mission as well as a new generation of Black investors.
While Jasmyn, Sebastian, and Motley all maintain a focus on the fund’s social mission, they’re also focused on financial returns for Black entrepreneurs.
“We are no different than any other fund just because you put a specific community around it,” said Jasmyn. “You shouldn’t expect any less valuable returns. We just happen to have the advantage of untapped potential.”
In addition to establishing the $50 million fund, Black Tech Nation also plans to make seed and Series A investments in software startups across the country and especially those coming from Silicon Valley, according to TechCrunch.
Black Tech Nation in short serves as a dedicated space for the “Black Tech Unicorns” of our generation to gain the support they need financially and socially. By providing access to a vast network of tech professionals in the industry as well as resources, the firm operates in a capacity that’s advocating for tech equity across the board.
For more information about Black Tech Nation, visit its website.
