HCP Newsletter: Road to 1,000 – January 2021 🚀
The Road to 1,000 newsletter is Harlem Capital’s monthly recap of updates on our portfolio companies, industry news, content, and events we suggest to check out and more!
Monthly Update 📅
Happy New Year - wishing you all a healthy and happy start to 2021! We are excited by the new opportunities that await and are continuing to build equity in our community by investing in diverse founders. Here is to a new year, a fresh start, and growing together. 🙏🏾
Now, buckle up! 🏎️💨 LIVE FROM EVERYWHERE, it’s Road to 1000 – January 2021 🥳🍾
Portfolio News 🗞️
HCP Partners with Forbes EQ BrandVoice
Very excited to announce the launch of our partnership with Forbes EQ BrandVoice where they will provide a platform for our diverse founders to share their perspectives. The inaugural class includes Lumin, Cashdrop, and Malomo
Harlem Capital Related 🚀
HCP partnering with Apple to change entrepreneurship! 💻🤝🏾
To address systemic barriers to access and funding faced by Black and Brown entrepreneurs, Apple will invest $10 million with Harlem Capital! Apple will also support Harlem Capital’s internship program, focused on opening doors for aspiring women and minority investors.
Harlem Capital is also partnering with Bank of America Merrill Lynch who has a $1 billion, four-year commitment to advance racial equality and economic opportunity 🤝🏾🏦
🎉Harlem Capital celebrates our 5 year anniversary. Read the blog post 5 Lessons From 5 Years of Harlem Capital and listen to the podcast of the founding team talking about their journey!🎉
HCP Year in Review 🥰🥰
The Harlem Capital team reflects on 2020, see their review and highlights from the year.
👏🏽 Meet The 2021 Winter Intern Class at Harlem Capital 👏🏽
Join us in welcoming our Winter 2021 intern class! The 6 applicants were chosen from a pool of 800 applications, leading to a 0.8% acceptance rate.
Harlem Capital’s Henri Pierre-Jacques reflects on 2020🎆🌟
Check out Henri’s lessons from 2020 in The Wall Street Journal by Yuliya Chernova where he shares his thoughts on the past year and reflects on the challenges and opportunities he sees in 2021.
Gems dropped 💎💎💎
E-commerce, enterprise software, fintech, wellness, and edtech are the hot markets taking a majority of VC capital today
In a work from home environment, it is key to focus on your mental and physical health to be at your best productivity. For him that’s only taking calls 11 am-6 pm, walking outside before it’s dark, and working out daily. Find your routine
There are 3 direct ways for VCs to increase founder diversity: 1) invest in diverse founders, 2) hire and promote diverse investors and 3) develop diverse investors external of the firm (angels, scouts, GPs)
The More Equity podcast is the podcast that keeps on giving! 🎙️
As a part of our investor on the rise series, we spoke with Hansae Catlett and Megan Maloney earlier this month. Hansae is an investor at Bessemer Megan served as an investor with General Catalyst.
Episode with Hansae ➡️ Apple and Spotify and with Megan ➡️ Apple and Spotify.
Gems dropped 💎💎💎
Investing in diverse founders should come from the main fund, not a separate pool of capital
Don’t be afraid to change your mind when given new information, it takes courage to admit you’re wrong or could do things differently
Honored to be a part of It Takes Two with All Raise 💯💯
“If people don’t think your dreams are crazy, you’re not dreaming big enough.” That gem and more are in this All Raise article with Kim Stiefel of Repeat and Henri Pierre-Jacques of HCP.
Top Diversity & Tech News 👀
Hundreds of startups go public every year, only 20 are founded and led by women🤯
2020 was certainly a record year for IPOs in the United States, with 442 logged as of December 14. Yet, only a handful of those were companies founded and led by women, according to research by Business Insider and information provided by Nasdaq. Historically, only about 20 women seem to have founded and led a company through to an IPO, based on data from companies that are currently publicly traded.
Miami is the next hot tech hub 🔥🌡️
As Will Smith would say “Welcome to Miami where the heat is on.” The heat is certainly on in the venture industry, especially as more entrepreneurs and investors relocate from traditional tech hubs to emerging startup ecosystems, Miami—with its tropical climate, diverse population and lack of state income tax—has suddenly become a tech hot spot. Interestingly, while the deal count last year was the lowest in five years, the dollar volume of venture capital invested in Miami was the highest there had been for that same period.
Yet Another Year of Venture Capital Lacking Diversity
After a year of protests against racial inequality and industry vows to do better, Black founders are still getting left out of Silicon Valley’s financial engine. As of now, only about 4 percent of all venture capitalists are Black, according to the National Venture Capital Association. To solve that problem, investors need to look beyond their own networks, as well as make their own industry more inclusive.
Compass, files to go public 📢📢
Compass, a tech-enabled real estate platform is one of the first unicorns to file confidentially to go public in 2021. The filing comes after residential real estate has seen prices rise as more people are working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Congrats to Dr. Lisa Dyson on a $32M Series A! 🚨🥩
Air Protein, a San Francisco startup with the intention to produce meat made from elements in the air, has announced it has completed a US$32 million Series A round of fundraising led by ADM Ventures, Barclays and Google‘s venture capital unit, GV.
Congrats to Sara Menker on the Series B funding! 💰💰
Gro Intelligence, an analytics startup deploying artificial intelligence systems for food security and climate stability solutions, has closed an $85 million Series B round. Sara Menker, an Ethiopia-born former Wall Street commodities trader, founded Gro Intelligence in Kenya in 2014 to fill a global gap in the world of agricultural data.
Lilly invest $30mm in Unseen to invest in diverse founders in healthcare
🚨 Atlanta scheduling startup Calendly raises $350M, surpasses $3B valuation Big win for Atlanta and the diverse ecosystem!🚨
Helpful Resources 💯 & Other Suggested Content 💡
Female Founders and Women in Tech - 2021 Resource Roundup 📌💻
This is a dynamic list of groups that serve and support fellow female and non-binary startup founders and women in tech. Feel free to say 👋 or submit suggestions to Annette Miller via Twitter @millerannette! ✉️
Funding Options for Black-Owned Businesses 💵💰
Black business owners certainly face many hurdles, especially when it comes to securing capital. Knowing that obstacles still exist, both public and private organizations have worked to boost funding opportunities for Black-owned businesses. Here are nine government agencies, venture capital firms and programs that can assist Black-owned businesses with getting capital.
Fellowships for Emerging Entrepreneurs💡📖
If you’re an entrepreneur or want to found a startup, these fellowships can help you overcome one of the hardest hurdles-getting funding! These venture capital fellowships are for current undergraduates, recent graduates, and professionals, and are designed to provide an introduction into the venture capital world.
Mark Your Calendars – Save These Dates! 📅
Harlem Capital Summer 2021 Intern Application 🔥🔥
Harlem Capital (“HCP”) is looking for interns for a 10-week period from June - August 2021. HCP will offer the intern a valuable experience where they will learn the strategy of a new investment firm, get direct exposure to start-up founders, make investments, and tap into HCP’s network. The application is open until Feb 17th. Please apply or share!
Interested in working at one of the Startups in our portfolio?💻👇
One of our portfolio companies, Wellory, the first anti-diet app 📲 🍽️that delivers 1:1 personalized nutrition coaching is hiring a Community Manager. Check out the role here!
With that said, see you in February! 💕💕