Emory University is taking things to the next level with the first student-run venture capital (VC) fund.

The Peachtree Minority Venture Fund (PMVF) was launched at The Roberto C. Goizueta Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School (GBS) to support Black, LatinX, and Native American entrepreneurs. This is the first VC fund to have a focus that is strictly dedicated to underrepresented minority founders and will be funded by the Goizueta Business School endowment.

Currently, the fund has $1 million in assets that are currently under management, and students are responsible for souring companies, conducting due diligence and making investment recommendations to the Peachtree Investment Committee.

The committee — made up of GBS faculty, staff and alumni — utilizes an “evergreen” structure, which means that they recycle all proceeds to be used for reinvestment.

“Peachtree Minority Venture Fund will invest in companies that have at least one founder who identifies as Black/African American, LatinX, or Native American,” said Karen Sedatole, Dean of the Emory Goizueta Business School, in a statement provided to AfroTech. “The founder must also have a controlling equity stake in the company.”

Underrepresented minority founders currently receive less than three percent of U.S. VC investments, according to information provided to AfroTech.

PMVF is dedicated to changing the narrative by working toward a goal of providing equity investments to underrepresented minority-founded businesses, exposing students from a variety of racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds, and creating an experiential learning opportunity for GBS students to learn about venture capital investing.

Checks distributed will be dependent upon the entrepreneur’s current stage.

A $5,000 to $15,000 investment will be for the Angel/Friends & Family Gap where founders may have great ideas and even a product or service, but aren’t currently in the revenue phase. For those in the Seed Stage, a $25,000 to $50,000 investment will be made into companies with traction and have already received funding from other sources as a part of an institutional round of financing.

Click here to learn more about the Peachtree Minority Venture Fund.

Emory

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