Fearless Fund has launched a $5M venture capital fund fueling women Of color owned businesses.
Early investors in the fund include actress and producer, Marsai Martin (Black-ish), Atlanta OBGYN, Dr. Jacqueline Waters (Married to Medicine), Chattanooga VC fund, The JumpFund, and other notable individual and institutional backers.
Led by Arian Simone and Keshia Knight Pulliam, the fund aims at bridging the gap in venture capital funding for women of color founders* backing them as they seek pre-seed, seed level, or series A funding for their scalable, growth aggressive companies.
The Fearless Fund team represents a source of capital, provides a mentor program, and leverages their network to build out an optional Celebrity Equity-Based Endorsement program, which aims to scale companies by connecting them with celebrities for influencer marketing campaigns.
The fund already has five companies in its portfolio including Ellis Island Tea founded by Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur Nailah Ellis-Brown, the first African-American female to ever own a beverage production facility.
Arian Simone, a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, angel investor, best-selling author, and marketing expert, is the Founder and CEO of Arian Simone Enterprises. Actress and entrepreneur Keshia Knight Pulliam is the Founder of spice line Keshia’s Kitchen, podcast Kandidly Keshia and non-profit The Kamp Kizzy Foundation.
The fund has also seen support from its advisors including Opportunity Hub CEO, Rodney Sampson, and The 22 Fund Managing Partner, Tracy Gray.
FinSMEs
21/08/2019
* In 2018, U.S. companies raised a total of $130B in VC funding. A mere 2.2% of that total went toward female-founded companies and less than 1% of total funding was allocated toward businesses founded by women of color (Fortune, 2018 & GirlBoss, 2019).