Now in its second year, the Cox Social Impact Accelerator — powered by TechStars — has just announced its newest cohort of businesses that will receive their support. Many Black-led companies have made the list this year!
Of particular note is the Empowrd app, an app that personalizes and guides civic engagement experiences that inspire, inform, and enable civic participation. Other recipients of the Cox Social Impact Accelerator include the Legal Equalizer (which connects people with five eyewitnesses, shares legal information, and alerts loved ones in real-time during law enforcement encounters), Acclinate (which educates and engages diverse individuals to make informed decisions about genomic research and clinical trial participation — making it especially useful for those who distrust or otherwise have questions about vaccines and scientific research), and Minwo (which, most saliently for our purposes, connects venture capital firms and incubators with minority and women-owned businesses to accelerate their growth and close the wealth gap).
Each member of the cohort will receive strategic mentorships with Cox business leaders and experts, which will help bring the entrepreneurs’ ideas to market, boost their early-stage businesses, grow their networks, and prepare them to pitch their company’s ideas to potential investors at a Demo Day presentation on April 29, 2021.
“This class gives me confidence that we can and will make this country a more equitable and inclusive place to live,” said Barry Givens, managing director of Techstars Social Impact. “We hope this class will be a shining example of the opportunities that exist to impact social justice and will highlight the importance of supporting diverse founders who are tackling these issues.”
A full list of the cohort for this year’s Cox social impact accelerator can be found on the company’s website.
