ImpactAlpha, April 6 — Racial inequities have cost the U.S. economy more than $16 trillion over the past two decades. Closing racial gaps in wages, housing credit and business capital could add $5 trillion to the U.S. GDP over the next five years, according to Citigroup.
Genius Guild, a new platform created by tech investor and entrepreneur Kathryn Finney, will build and invest in Black-led companies serving Black communities with potential to scale globally.
“As a Black American woman, the poison of racism removed the right of my family to own their livelihood,” wrote Finney in a Medium post. Finney’s great grandparents were victims of the early 1900s Tulsa race massacre in Tusla’s Greenwood district, known as “Black Wall Street.”
Building an ecosystem
Genius Guild secured $5 million from Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures, The Impact Seat, First Close Partners, Facebook’s Andrew Bosworth and other investors. Genius Guild Labs and Genius Guild Studio help incubate and support Black founder-led tech ventures.
The firm’s in-house Greenhouse Fund will make pre-seed investments of up to $200,000 in Black-led fintech, healthtech and other tech ventures, such as Greenwood Bank, Invest Sou Sou, Goodr and Care Academy.
