Known Holdings, a Black, Indigenous, Latina and Asian American-owned asset management firm, has launched Known Growth, an investment bank that will invest in and scale middle-market businesses led by underrepresented founders. Known Growth will focus on helping those founders scale while retaining ownership and control.
The investment bank, based in New York, will “increase access to all forms of relevant capital, with an eye test for the best terms at the lowest cost,” said Known’s Nathalie Molina Niño. That includes critical growth capital such as “private equity, private debt, and low-cost loans for scaling businesses on a trajectory for serious scale,” she told ImpactAlpha.
Returns on inclusion
Known’s Valerie Red-Horse Mohl will lead the investment bank (listen to her on the podcast, “Moving capital at scale to elevate communities of color,”). The bank will invest in “traditionally under-capitalized founders, and underutilized sectors that are ripe for investment and growth,” said Red-Horse Mohl.
The firm last year formed a partnership with Black women-led Blk Grvty, which is raising a $25 million fund to provide low-cost working capital loans and grants to diverse fund managers.
