ImpactAlpha, February 6 — Blk Grvty has received a $1 million commitment from Surdna Foundation for its Equipped initiative, which is looking to raise $25 million to provide low-cost working capital loans and grants to diverse fund managers.
The goal is “to maximize their ownership stake, save time getting to first close and raise larger funds, ultimately unlocking trillions of dollars of wealth in our economy,” said Blk Grvty’s JaNay Queen Nazaire, who inked a partnership with Known Holdings last year.
Operational support
Blk Grvty recently made a $100,000 grant to Collide Capital, a Black-owned fund management firm that invests in early-stage Black, Latino and women founders. Collide Capital is gearing up to launch its second fund after raising a $66 million first fund in 2022 (disclosure: Collide’s Aaron Samuels serves on ImpactAlpha’s board of directors).
“The injection of this capital is more than funding—it’s the keystone in expanding our capacity to build a platform that can withstand the turbulence of our industry,” said Collide’s Brian Hollins. Blk Grvty’s Equipped also provided a $100,000 grant to Black woman-owned venture firm Cake Ventures.
Multi-donor fund
Woman-led Inspire Access is launching a platform to tap some of the roughly $234 billion sitting in donor-advised funds for gender- and racial equity-lens investments. Donors can transfer capital from their DAFs or make tax-deductible donations to allocate capital directly to ventures led by women and minority founders.
“By restricting financial access to this group of remarkable leaders, we lose the potential for powerful new companies that are solving problems in creative and effective ways,” said Inspire’s Patrice King Brickman.
Inspire’s donors have backed Rethink Impact’s Jenny Abramson and Heidi Patel and Nasir Qadree of Zeal Capital Partners (see, “Agent of Impact”).
