As we work together to mobilize capital for these underrepresented entrepreneurs, we seek to expand our network and help build a community of aligned investors that can share investment opportunities, participate in joint due diligence, and co-invest together. 

We are led by a fearless changemaker, Alicia Robb, a beacon of inclusivity and economic empowerment of founders of color, women founders, and women & BIPOC investors. She founded the Founders of Color Showcase as an idea at the beginning of 2020, and through a global pandemic, made it a reality that garnered $800K+ in direct funding to 5 founders.

Our vision of closing a massive capital gap for founders of color is to:

• Drive diversity, inclusion and equity in the startup ecosystem by engaging more women and people of color as entrepreneurial investors
• Invest in underrepresented entrepreneurs that are leading companies that have the potential to make a significant positive impact on people, planet, and our communities and help them scale by providing funding & mentoring
• Innovate on the broken VC model and deploy capital to entrepreneurs in ways that work for them and provide our investors with diverse investment opportunities

Our Process

Our goal is to showcase a strong pipeline of investable companies led by founders of color and mobilize investment into companies led by founders of color.  

We utilizes a proven process (from 10+ years of experience with the ‘learn by doing’ method championed by Next Wave Impact Fund) of:

• Application through nomination
• Assessment with our network of investors/advocates
• Due diligence with leads & interested investors
• Voting with active investors

Throughout the entire process, the collaborative leverages the expertise of the entire Founders of Color network, to invest in a portfolio of companies diversified across sector, stage, and geography.

If there is enough investor interest from this showcase and our network, we will put together special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to invest in specific companies as well as a multi-company investment vehicle to invest in a portfolio of five of the finalists.

Our Network

In our inaugural year, we brought together 200+ investors from the early-stage investing ecosystem to coalesce in support & funding of the showcase entrepreneurs, including: