Global EIR Receives a $200K Donation from Silicon Valley Bank and Brad Feld

Global Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR), a nonprofit network of entrepreneurs, investors and universities dedicated to solving international entrepreneurs’ immigration problems, received a $200k donation.

Silicon Valley Bank and Brad Feld (co-founder of Foundry Group and Techstars) through his Anchor Point Foundation provided the match donations.

The funds will continue to fund Global EIR’s mission to help international entrepreneurs access U.S visas in order to build American businesses and create jobs.

Led by Craig Montuori, Executive Director, the nonprofit matches highly-skilled foreign entrepreneurs with universities so that immigrant entrepreneurs can provide expert mentorship to entrepreneurial-minded students. In return, these entrepreneurs receive access to the visas they need to build their businesses inside the United States, ultimately contributing to the growth of the U.S. job market.

Currently, there are Global EIR programs in four states across 13 college and university campuses, including the University of Massachusetts, Boston; the University of Colorado, Boulder; the University of Alaska, Anchorage; and San Jose State University.
Since the creation in 2014, the nonprofit has attained 42 visas for international entrepreneurs who have started their own companies, creating 123 new jobs and raising $29.9 million in capital in the process.

On top of the $100k donation from Silicon Valley Bank, the company’s General Counsel, Michael Zuckert, will join Brad Feld on the Global EIR board. Zuckert will provide strategic guidance to the organization, drawing on his legal and government affairs experience.

Global EIR is a recent graduate from the Techstars’ Boulder accelerator program and is the first nonprofit to go through the accelerator.

FinSMEs

13/06/2017

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