ImpactAlpha, June 20 – Fresh off its acquisition of Living Cities’ fund business, Known Holdings is absorbing Black-led research and advisory group Blk Grvty to establish an innovation lab under the Known umbrella. The lab will explore capital models and provide grants to support Black and Brown fund managers.
Blk Grvty, A Known Lab, as the new unit is called, kicked off the partnership on Juneteenth with a $100,000 grant to Cake Ventures, a Black woman-owned venture capital fund that invests in startups addressing demographic trends, such as an aging and the increasingly diverse population.
The merger is the latest move by Known, a diverse-led asset management and finance firm, to consolidate talent and assets in its quest to shift capital and eliminate racial wealth gaps.
Catalytic capital
Blk Grvty was founded in 2021 by JaNay Queen Nazaire, an advisor and former chief strategy officer at Living Cities, and consultant and entrepreneur Chipo Sachirarwe.
The nonprofit has advised on the structure of the Living Cities Catalyst Fund III and helped Ben & Jerry’s increase its Black franchise owners, among other activities. The group will lead Known’s innovation around capital models and “build new systems to fuel the changes so deeply needed in finance,” said Known’s Jim Casselberry.
