HCP Newsletter: Road to 1,000 - June 2020 🚀
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
The world has been heavy over the last few months. At Harlem Capital, we have been feeling the weight of the situations going on around us, but are optimistic and empowered by everyone’s courage. We have always believed in our mission, but it seems now more than ever what we do is imperative. We encourage you to lean on your loved ones during these difficult times and, as always, Harlem Capital is here for you. If you missed it, please read our statement on recent events here. Keep your heads high, change is coming!
Harlem Capital Related 🚀
Our Black brothers and sisters' voices must be heard now more than ever. Check out HCP’s co-founder and Managing Partner, Henri Pierre-Jacques, sharing his perspectives on empowering minority entrepreneurs on CNBC and on Sean Sales’ Fundamental Fairness podcast. Also take the time to watch Jarrid Tingle, HCP’s co-founder and Managing Partner, on the Owning Our Future panel discussing how to increase ownership and equity in the future of tech.
For another great diversity webinar, check out Business Unusual Ep. 58: Equalizing Access to Capital for Black Founders that aired on June 8th featuring our very own iconic duo, Henri Pierre-Jacques and Jarrid Tingle.
Name drop, name DROP💣💣💣 In recent interviews on CNBC and Bloomberg, Henry Kravis of KKR and Jon Winkelried of TPG proudly mentioned their partnerships with Harlem Capital and reaffirmed our mission. Incredibly grateful for the support we have in these two. We told y’all not to sleep on us 👏👏👏
Welcome to our eighth intern cohort!🗣🗣 We were fortunate to have our Summer intern class start this month. Our interns have been a bright light for us as a firm and in these times it provides us with hope to see such diverse talent also focused on economic empowerment. Please join us in welcoming them.
A warm welcome to our newest portfolio company! Join us in welcoming 4Degrees, an enterprise software company that enables businesses to leverage relationship intelligence to build better professional connections and automate manual relationship-based data entry and report generation tasks. 4Degrees is led by Ablorde Ashigbi. Harlem Capital was so impressed by the product that it is not only an investor in 4Degrees, but also a customer! We encourage our VC/PE relationships to check it out here 🔥
Top Diversity & Tech News 👀
Now👏this👏is👏what👏we’re👏talking👏about👏!! Big news on the fundraising trail for Black founded startups, Squire Technologies and CareAcademy - both announced large fundraising rounds of $34 million and $9.5 million, respectively. The raises represent some of the largest rounds for their respective series for Black founders in history. Take a spin through the big announcements for Squire Technologies here and CareAcademy here. Congratulations to both hard working teams!
Now👏this👏is👏what👏we’re👏talking👏about👏x2👏!! HUGE week for Black GPs. Base10 Partners raised $250mm, Material Impact raised $200mm, Lebron James raised $100mm and Lightship Capital closed on $22mm of $50mm. Power of momentum👊
***Sound the Alarm:Black Excellence Alert***🚨🚨🚨 Though we have seen a lot of Black excellence over the past month, we want to give a BIG shout out to Samira Nasr for becoming the first-ever Black editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, Tristan Walker for joining Shake Shack’s Board of Directors, and Michael Seibel for becoming the first-ever Black member of Reddit’s Board of Directors.
Suggested Content 💡 + Helpful Resources 💯
For those in need of some healing resources from these trying times, check out Ethel’s Club Founder Naj Austin On Creating Virtual Healing & Grieving Circles For Black People and Wellness Wisdom Vol.14: People of Color Wellness + Allyship Resources 💕
Listen up!!👂 If you’re a Black founder of a U.S.-based company that has raised less than $30M in venture capital, and has fewer than 150 employees, you are eligible to receive #TechforBlackFounders software completely FREE (❗❗). Learn more and apply here.
Interested in investing in Black founders? Well it’s time to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Understanding the role of unconscious bias in decision-making will help VCs get into deals with talented Black founders, and maintain positive working relationships. Read more here. Still need more resources to boost your deal count among founders of color? Look here to let data drive your diversity efforts📈.
Are you interested in getting into venture? Are you an entrepreneur looking to get funding? Or are you someone just looking to learn about VC transactions? If yes to any and all of those questions, renowned venture capitalists Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson are teaching a FREE (❗❗) 7-week online course this summer to demystify venture capital deals and startup financing. Learn more here.
Have you ever had a question about venture and had no idea where to go to get the answer? Well rest assured, there’s an app for that! Just kidding, there’s a website, but still ask anything and get answers from trusted VCs like Brad Feld, David Cohen, and Fred Wilson. Go ahead, ask.😎
Mark Your Calendars - Future Events! 📆
Harlem Capital Partners & Techstars: Closing the Capital Gap -
Join the live discussion on July 1st @ 1pm ET with Henri Pierre-Jacques, Managing Partner at Harlem Capital Partners, and David Cohen, Cofounder and Managing Partner at Techstars. They will be discussing the efforts in boosting investment for Black Entrepreneurs, the impact of COVID-19 on raising capital for women and minorities, and ways to close these capital gaps. Register here.
Interested in working at one of the startups in our portfolio?💻 Click here to see all the open positions!