Showing 104 results for:
fearless
Popular topics
All results
Fearless Fund has made a new investment, following a court victory. Fearless Fund is more than one month removed from the settlement of a major court battle that centered its Strivers Grant program, which allocated $20,000 in funding to Black-woman-owned businesses. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, a lawsuit had been filed by the American Alliance for Equal Rights group as it claimed the program operated with “explicit racial exclusion.” The case has been settled between the parties, resulting in the grant program’s closure. However, the move was viewed as a victory by Fearless Fund, which only had one grant left to disperse from the program, and the final decision allowed the firm to “strategically” avoid a Supreme Court ruling — something that could have impacted the greater population of Black business owners seeking funding. “This is a WIN and positive outcome for the Fearless Fund and our community,” Fearless Fund stated on AFROTECH™’s Instagram at the time. “We strategically...
Fearless Fund is claiming victory following a settlement that dissolved one of its grant programs. What Happened As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Fearless Fund had been in a legal battle with legal activist Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights group over the firm’s Strivers Grant program — a Blum-led group had earlier challenged race-based affirmative action policies and won in the Supreme Court. The grant program, backed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Mastercard, supported Black-owned women businesses with $20,000 in funding, per information shared by “CBS Mornings.” The lawsuit, filed August 2023 in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA, argued it was in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to launch a grant program “open only to Black females,” labeling the move as “explicit racial exclusion.” As a result, several rulings and appeals have been issued. First, the grant program was permitted to continue operating under U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash on...
The lawsuit preventing Fearless Fund from allocating funding to Black women entrepreneurs has been settled. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Fearless Fund, currently led by founding partner Arian Simone, was sued by legal activist Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights group. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA, in August 2023, the investment firm had been accused of “explicit racial exclusion” for creating a grant program that was “open only to Black females,” with the lawsuit alleging that it went against the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Blum and the group flagged Fearless Fund’s efforts of providing $20,000 in grants and mentorship directed to Black women due to a violation of “race neutrality,” The Washington Post reports. Initially, U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash was in favor of the Fearless Fund, which at the time had been guided by Simone and COO Ayana Parsons, who later stepped down from her role in April 2024. View this post...
Fearless Fund Co-Founder Ayana Parsons has parted from her leadership role at the venture capital firm. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Parsons reveals that she stepped down as chief operating officer of Fearless Fund, co-founded by Parsons and CEO Arian Simone, in April 2024. “I have stepped back from the operations of the fund, so I’m not in the day-to-day, I’m not running it,” Parsons said, per the outlet . “But what I can tell you as it relates to me, is I’m a problem solver. I’m a changemaker. And so, I am pulling together people to talk about innovative and creative ways that we can continue to drive change and do it in multiple areas.” While the move was amid Fearless Fund’s lawsuit, Parsons emphasizes that her departure wasn’t due to the legal battle. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights group sued the Atlanta, GA-based fund in August 2023 for “explicit racial exclusion” by establishing a grant program...
Fearless Fund has been barred temporarily from providing funding to Black entrepreneurs. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the venture capital fund had been sued by Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights group in August 2023 for “explicit racial exclusion” by creating a grant program dedicated solely to Black women, The Washington Post shares. Initially, U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash had ruled in favor of Fearless Fund, but the verdict was blocked by a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Sept. 30, 2023. Fearless Fund, looking to retract the verdict, filed to appeal the September ruling. In the most recent update, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit has temporarily blocked Fearless Fund from continuing its efforts to support Black women entrepreneurs with funding, CNN reports . The panel judges ruled the Fearless Fund’s Fearless Strivers Grant Contest is “substantially likely to violate” Title 42 of the US Code’s provisions,...
According to the Associated Press, Atlanta, GA-based venture capital firm Fearless Fund “faced tough questions from conservative judges” on Wednesday, Jan. 31, as it fought for its grant program to further support Black-women-owned businesses. As AFROTECH previously told you, Fearless Fund was hit with a lawsuit by Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) group in August 2023 on the basis that the fund was carrying out “explicit racial exclusion” and violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
