ImpactAlpha, March 30 — LA-based early-stage venture firm MaC Venture Capital aims to see women and people of color represented in society, business and culture. The majority Black founding partner team includes Marlon Nichols of Cross Culture Ventures, Macro’s Charles King, former Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and former agent Michael Palank, who together founded M Ventures in 2017.
The fund will target tech startups leveraging cultural shifts and behavior change to expand access to opportunity, address climate challenges and build better products. Investors include Howard University, Mitch and Freada Kapor, Foot Locker, Greenspring Associates, the University of Michigan, and the Libra and Mary Reynolds Babcock foundations, with support from Candide Group.
The firm is focused on “solutions that take care of the planet, create better lives for underserved communities and ensure that capital is flowing to the very best founders irrespective of race and gender,” Candide Morgan Simon told ImpactAlpha.
Returns on inclusion
MaC Venture has backed dozens of companies, including LA-based 70 Million Jobs, which helps people with criminal records gain employment; in-home preschool startup Wonderschool; and BlocPower, a climate tech startup retrofitting city buildings in underserved communities (see, “Brooklyn’s BlocPower raises $63 million to green U.S. buildings”).
