Back in June, PayPal made a $530 million commitment to Black and minority-owned businesses to fight racial injustice. Now, as a part of that promise, the financial giant is paying up.
In a press release, Paypal announced an investment of $50 million in eight early-stage Black and Latinx-led venture capital funds: Chingona Ventures; Fearless Fund; Harlem Capital; Precursor Ventures; Slauson & Co.; VamosVentures; Zeal Capital Partners; and one additional fund.
The money will be funneled to each company through PayPal venture capital arm, PayPal Ventures, which invests in startups from series A to late-stage funding.
“Black and Latinx founders have been underrepresented in venture capital funding for far too long,” said president and CEO of PayPal, Dan Schulman.
In addition to providing capital to minority-led VCs, PayPal Ventures is offering a three-month fellowship to a Black or Latinx graduate student each semester. In the program, the student will be mentored about business.
“PayPal recognizes that our lived experience allows us to deeply empathize with the journey of other women of color entrepreneurs,” said Arian Simone, founding partner of Fearless Fund. “Women of color should be able to pitch to people who look like them on the other side of the table. We’re excited to begin this relationship with PayPal.”
As previously mentioned, PayPal has worked hard to offset many disparities faced by Blacks in business, especially amid this year’s financial crisis. Among the company’s recent financial awards is $5 million in grants to 20 nonprofit community partners to support Black-owned U.S. businesses in COVID relief; $10 million in empowerment grants to Black-owned small businesses for reopening, which was completed in August; and a $50 million deposit in Black-owned Optus Bank.
“By directing our dollars to investors from underrepresented communities, we’re supporting their investment in Black and Latinx entrepreneurs at the earliest stages,” Schulman said. “We’re honored to support this outstanding group of venture capitalists as we seek to bring more equity to the fundraising process.”
