Investing in the next generation of winners. All winners welcome.
Harlem
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Since 2015, Harlem Capital has been focused on changing who gets to win.
Harlem Capital is a VC firm that backs exceptional founders with the drive to build generational companies.
We don’t bet on trends, we bet on excellence.
All winners welcome.
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We are pleased to announce the closing of Harlem Capital's debut fund at $40.3mm. We are grateful for the incredible support. We are now well-positioned to back women and minority entrepreneurs with meaningful investments and follow-on capital
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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Founder Alert: We are going to invest in 10-12 startups run by women or POC in 2020. Below is some criteria, check out more at harlem.capital/investmentcri…
1. Raising $1mm+ Rd
2. We target 5-10% ownership
3. $100k+ rev, 2x annual growth
4. $1B+ TAM
Tag founders we should know 👇🏽
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We are excited to announce the closing of our $134M Fund II. This fund brings us one step closer to our mission of funding 1,000 diverse founders, but we know the work and journey continues
forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/…
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Founder Alert: We will invest in 3-5 diverse or women led US startups in Q4. What are we looking for? Tag founders below or share
- Invest $750-850k (7-10% ownership)
- Seed Rds of $1.5-3.0mm
- Product market fit (80% post revenue)
- Industry agnostic (70/30 Enterprise/Consumer)
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🚨 Black UNICORN Alert 🚨 Congrats to @TopeAwotona and @Calendly on raising $350mm at $3B valuation from @OpenViewVenture. Huge for Atlanta and the diverse ecosystem, many more are on the way
bizjournals.com/atlanta/news…
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We still sometimes get asked “Besides race or gender, do you look for anything else???”
We have seen 1,242 deals year to date and invested in 10 companies...this isn’t charity, we are investing in the best founders who happen to be diverse
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Was great to host our first VC dinner in SF last night. This is diversity in VC, more to come.
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We just did our first co-investment with an intern alum. We have had 17 interns break into VC/PE post the program and it’s exciting to now see us building together. We need more diverse investors.
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🧵 We often get asked how we feel about more diverse focused funds and if the market is too crowded??
1/ There are 1,000+ VC funds that have been investing 90% of capital largely into SaaS companies led by 31% of the population (White men). They don’t get asked this question
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We are honored to have @Apple join us on this journey to change the face of entrepreneurship. They are leaders in brand and consumer experience so we have much to learn. Thank you for your support to us and the broader diverse ecosystem
apple.com/newsroom/2021/01/a…
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HUGE week for Black GPs. @Base10Partners raised $250mm, @carmichaelvc raised $200mm, @KingJames raised $100mm and @lightshipcap closed on $22mm of $50mm. Power of momentum 👊🏽
techcrunch.com/2020/06/26/no…
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We hosted our Crypto in Color dinner last night with @Visa. What an amazing and inspiring group of young founders and investors of color tackling the crypto/web3 world. We are excited to back founders in this space.
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There are 62M US Latinos, 19% of total pop. Yet, <2% of VC $ goes to Latino founders. Why? Bc <1% of VC Partners are Latino. To get more funding to Latinos, we need to change the funders.
To kick off #HispanicHeritageMonth, we feature trailblazing Latino Emerging Fund Managers!
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We are excited to announce our partnership with TPG! We are partnering with the best to help ensure our success bc this mission needs to succeed. It has been many months to get this done, couldn't have chosen a better firm
forbes.com/sites/antoinegara…
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Where is Harlem Capital going now?
- MORE deals (12-15 per year)
- LARGER checks ($1-2M)
- EARLIER companies (Post product)
- GREATER community (Hired Community Manager)
Fund II is going to be even more fun!
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Read and Share our new report - "Power 200: Black & Latinx Venture Capitalists You Should Know". Find out these investors' backgrounds and what funds actually have diverse talent. Comment below w/ key findings and questions.
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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Wow the Fall intern application is officially closed. Thanks to the 1.4k+ that applied, remarkable the amount of diverse talent that EXIST and the demand to get into venture. There is ZERO diversity pipeline issue for VC. We’ve had 9 classes in 2.5 years with over 4k applicants👇🏽
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A reminder of what we invest in
Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed
Check size: $1-2.5M
Ownership: 10%+
Round sizes: $1.5-5M
Agnostic but core sectors: Enterprise, Ecom tools, B2B FinTech, Vertical SaaS
Tag or share with diverse founders we should know
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We got rid of our office, here’s what we do for remote culture
- Have detailed onboarding process
- Rotate weekly one on ones
- Quarterly in person meetings rotating cities
- Create a buddy system
- Allow team to work on own schedule except for few time blocks
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We at Harlem Capital have the privilege of investing in & partnering with phenomenal women founders.
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We are partnering with @techstars to continue building a more diverse ecosystem together! Can't do this work alone and continue to have amazing partners help us tackle this incredibly important mission
forbes.com/sites/antoinegara…
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🚨 Our 2020 Diverse Founder Report is live. We found 305 Black & Latino founders that have raised $1M+ in VC funding, totaling $10.8B. This year’s report showed incredible growth in the number of founders, total capital raised and late stage funding.
harlem.capital/305-black-and…
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We are closing the office for two weeks to give the team some much needed time off. Please excuse any delays until Sept 7th. Team will be back fresh and ready to go for the fall. Make sure you give your team some time.
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🚨 Black & Latino Funding Announcements: What a week, might be biggest one yet!
1/ Congrats to @sotulana and @therapybrands on getting acquired for $1.2B by @KKR_Co. That’s not a unicorn valuation, that’s a unicorn EXIT. 1 of 2 unicorns in the same week
bhamnow.com/2021/05/19/1-bir…
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Such an honor to be named to @Inc's 30 Under 30 2019 list 🙏🏽 It has been an amazing journey and we feel blessed to be doing what we love, with the people we love, for the people we love! @HarlemCapital
inc.com/kimberly-weisul/harl…
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Read and Share - "Rising 200: Black and Latino Founders Who Raised $1mm+ in VC Funding ($6.0bn total)". Check out our full Diverse Founder Report and tag any founders that we missed. Our goal is to shed light on an underrepresented, but present pipeline
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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Research Report Alert (Read and Share): Meet 105 Black and Latino Founders Who Raised $1mm+ in VC Funding ($2.7bn total). We spent months scraping the internet to show the pipeline exist. Check out the full report and tag any founders that we missed.
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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We distilled 5 key lessons from 6 VCs of color on how to break into venture and THRIVE.
1) You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
2) Have An Opinion, SHARE IT
3) Follow Your Interests
4) Act Like You’re Already in VC
5) Be Patient, Don’t Give Up
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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Right now our team of 6 is in NYC, DC, Cleveland, Phoenix and London. For small teams we don’t see a need to be in one city, but instead let people be with their families or where they are most happy. Our plan for maintaining culture below
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🧵 The HCP team has been sharing tons of knowledge on twitter. Here are some of their highlights that we’ll keep adding to over time 👇🏽
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We are thinking of those in Haiti, Afghanistan and so many other places with people suffering right now.
It’s important to take a step back from our bubbles and remember we are all connected as humans.
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A moment of silence for George Floyd and all the other lives taken from us this past year 🙏🏽
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We wanted to reflect on 2020, see our review. Some highlights:
- 13 investments, led 9
- 62% POC and 38% female led
- Had our 1st exit
- Saw 1,663 deals
- Newsletter hit 3.5k subscribers and podcast 4.5k listens
- $26k donated
- 3k intern applications
harlem.capital/harlem-capita…
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✊🏽🌙 February 1st represents the start of Black History Month and the Lunar New Year. It’s a celebration for both of our cultures.
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🚨 We are excited to lead an investment in @thehouseoflrc, the fashion house created by @ciara and @DangeRussWilson, and led by CEO Christine Day. We invested alongside @lightspeedvp @darcocapital and others.
globenewswire.com/en/news-re…
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🚨 Announcing our inaugural Angel Program. We asked ourselves how we could further our commitment to diversifying the entrepreneurial ecosystem & we're excited to announce our Angel Program. Apps are due March 1st. Be sure to APPLY & SHARE!
harlem.capital/apply-to-harl…
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So good having the team all together for strategy sessions, personal development and fellowship 😃
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How do Black & Latina women break into VC? 🧵
The HCP 2021 Black & Latina Women Investors in VC report analyzes the professional & educational backgrounds of 108 Black and 96 Latina women investors in the U.S. VC ecosystem. Get the scoop: bit.ly/blacklatinawomeninvc
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Female Founder Alert - The Pacesetters: 300 Female Founders Who Raised $1mm+ in VC Funding ($47.0bn total). Check out our first Female Founder Report in honor of Women’s History Month. Tag female founders we should know
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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We are looking to highlight more funding rounds of Latino founders. We haven’t been able to find a great source to track the rounds and would love any guidance from the community. Please tag good accounts that share these rounds so we can highlight them 👇🏽
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We've had 940 applications across our 5 intern classes...pipeline issue is AN EXCUSE for VC investors...find a new pipe
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Congratulations to our Managing Partners @hpierrejacques and @jarridvtingle on graduating from @HarvardHBS today! We are excited to have you back in NYC 🙌🏽
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🚨 Following the death of George Floyd, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of diversity-focused and diverse-led funds in the US. A year later we wanted to take to showcase the progress to date by highlighting funds in the current landscape
harlem.capital/digging-deepe…
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🚨 Who Are The Black and Latino Startups That Have Raised $1M+ of Venture?
Our 2021 Diverse Founder Report found 870 companies, check it out to see who these incredible founders are that have raised $28.8B 👇
harlem.capital/870-black-and…
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Check out the list of Black Women VCs 👇🏽
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We will be releasing our first Female Founder Report on Monday for Women’s History Month. We analyzed over 1,700 female founders that have raised $1mm+ of venture, totaling $56.4bn. We then took a deep dive on the top 200 plus top 100 Black & Latina founders, our 300 Pacesetters
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VCs - Reaching out for “diverse pipeline access” isn’t a good strategy. Others sending you diverse founders doesn’t solve your problem bc the pipeline has never been the problem. The problem is your diligence funnel so start internal before going external
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Pitch Alert (Apply or Share): Our 1st pitch competition for diverse founders is coming April 22nd! Startups or Small Businesses apply by March 18th to win $40k in grants
application->harlem.capital/pitchcomp
@TPG @jpmorgan @Grasshopperbank @LererHippeau @M12 @RSM #HCPmoreEQUITY
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🚨 Our 2020 Diverse VC Report is live. We found 250 Black & Latino Venture Capitalist that work at or run 201 funds. This year’s report showed growth in decision makers since 2018. Check out some of the insights below
harlem.capital/power-250-bla…
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🧵 We offered 7 termsheets (won 6) in the past 7 weeks, here’s what they were and what we learned
1/ What they were
- Events mgmt platform
- Inventory mgmt platform
- Consumer Marketplace
- Social shopping
- Home improvement marketplace
- EA Productivity tool
- Relationship app
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New Alerts: We are partnering with KKR to provide our interns and applicants an opportunity to intern at one of the largest Private Equity firms in the world. We want to develop the future investors that will fund diverse founders
wsj.com/articles/kkr-partner…
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📃 The Harlem Capital Syllabus 📈
Since Day 1, our Syllabus has been the cornerstone of our internship program. For the first time, we’ve decided to release it to the community. If you’re looking to go 0-100 on all things venture, this guide is for you!
harlem.capital/the-harlem-ca…
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Juneteenth event you will not want to miss with our Partner @jarridvtingle alongside @ArlanWasHere @MandelaSH and @mwseibel 👊🏽 Friday at 12pm EST, rsvp below
RSVP -> owningourfuture.splashthat.c…
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Founders a few questions to ask VCs
- What is your check size range and ownership targets?
- How many startups are you investing in from this fund and where are you?
- How much do you reserve for follow ons and how do you decide which companies?
It’s a two way relationship
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🚨 @LatinxVCs launched a 8-week program to prepare participants for a successful role as an Analyst or Associate role in VC. The program helps equip Latinx candidates with the tools and community that they need to break into venture. Apply by April 26th👇🏽
notion.so/LatinxVC-Fellowshi…
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Getting excited to release our Diverse VC report tomorrow. Title is "Power 200: Black and Latinx Vebture Capitalist You Should Know". Did a deep dive on the investors education, location, roles and the funds. Be sure to let us know your thoughts
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One of our favorite stats is that 17 of our past interns are now in venture capital or private equity. We started the firm to diversify founders, but diversifying investors is just as important to the broader ecosystem of founders
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It is always our favorite time when the new interns start. This class was selected from our largest applicant pool yet, 565 applications. We are excited to welcome them to the HCP family. Please join us in welcoming the Winter 2020 intern class.
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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🚨 Black & Latino Funding Announcements
1/ Congrats to @jessicaalba and @Honest on going public at a $1.4B valuation. This makes Jessica the youngest Latina to take a company public
cnbc.com/2021/05/05/jessica-…
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Listen to episode 4 of the More Equity podcast with @jewelmelanie. Jewel previously sold her startup @partpic to @amazon and is currently the Head of @GoogleStartups and Managing Partner of @collab_capital, a fund focused on Black founders
medium.com/@harlemcapital/mo…
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Founder tip: Do not email VCs that you don’t have a relationship with bw now and Jan 4th. There are some VCs still online, but your odds are MUCH lower at this point. Prep and come ready for 2021. Draft emails and set auto send for Jan 5th, not Jan 4th
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🚨 Black & Latino Unicorn Alert 🦄
Congrats to Kunle Olukotun, Rodrigo Liang and the @SambaNovaAI team on raising a $676M Series D at $5.1B valuation les by @SoftBank. This is the second most valuable Black or Latino led company after @Compass
techcrunch.com/2021/04/13/sa…
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We stand with our Asian brothers and sisters. Injustice to one means no justice for all. They have faced discrimination and the recent spike in hate crimes has put these injustices on display. Language is powerful and blaming groups for covid has real implications. We are humans.
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🚨 🌍 We are excited to announce our investment in @pariti_io, a Kenya-based marketplace for startups in emerging markets. This is our first investment in Africa and certainly not our last. Thanks @YacobBerhane @wossen @skaldiro for letting us join you
techcrunch.com/2021/12/05/ke…
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It was a pleasure to build with you @JohnHenryStyle and we thank you for all your contributions. Wishing you much gratitude and success
medium.com/@JohnHenryStyle/s…
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Podcast Alert: We are excited to launch the Harlem Capital More Equity Podcast, be sure to follow to stay up to date. We start episode 1 with @JuliaCollins of Planet FWD, the first Black woman w/ unicorn status who has raised over $450mm in VC funding
open.spotify.com/episode/2zw…
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Almost 5 years ago we launched as an angel network of friends in @jarridvtingle’s living room in Harlem. Today we are an institutional Seed fund looking to change the face of entrepreneurship. It was time for a new look as we have a clearer & bolder vision harlem.capital/harlem-capita…
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Was so fun having dinner with some of our NYC VC friends. Nothing like the diversity of the NYC ecosystem. Excited to continue building a community here
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💫Happy International Women's Day from HCP! Today (and every day) we celebrate the four incredible women on our team. We're on a mission to uplift and empower brilliant women builders, and it starts from within. @gabbycazeau, @nic_detommaso, @melodyhahm & @TonnaObaze 🚀
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1.27.20 The first day a Harlem Capital case was taught at @HarvardHBS. 3% of HBS cases have Black protagonist, our stories need to be told and we are truly honored to be one of them ✊🏾
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Getting excited to release our 2019 Diverse Founder Report tomorrow! We've almost doubled the number of Black and Latino founders who've raised $1mm+ to 200 from the 2018 report. PIPELINE 👀
Research Report Alert (Read and Share): Meet 105 Black and Latino Founders Who Raised $1mm+ in VC Funding ($2.7bn total). We spent months scraping the internet to show the pipeline exist. Check out the full report and tag any founders that we missed.
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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🚨 Who Are The Black and Latino Startups That Have Raised $1M+ of Venture Capital?
Our 2022 Diverse Founder Report found 1,128 companies, check it out to see who these incredible founders are that have raised $43.7B 👇
bit.ly/2022HCPDiverseFunding…
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Happy Juneteenth ✊🏽
25 of our companies or 56% of them have 28 Black founders
We are grateful to help support the strive towards wealth equality for Black founders
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Another quarterly retreat in the books. Always great to get the full team together IRL. We are wishing you all a happy holidays. The team will be on vacation until Jan 4th, see you in 2022 ✌🏽
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🙏🏽 The Tulsa massacre happened 100 years ago today. The group that was never charged, murdered 300 lives, destroyed 1,250 homes and burned dozens of Black owned businesses including Black Wall Street. Tulsa laid the foundation for Harlem and many other cities. We thank you!
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Read and Share Alert: We did a 2-part BHM series on diverse VC General Partners. Part 1 is for founders and focuses on:
1) What VCs look for
2) Common founder mistakes
3) Challenges for diverse founders
Thanks @KeshaCashIAFund @kerby @chudson @SLP_EDU
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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This is a big moment for Black fund managers like ourselves, the first Black VC fund with $1B+ AUM!!
Congrats to Ade, @tjnahigian and @Base10Partners on raising a $460M 3rd fund. You have been great coinvestors.
forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/…
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We are excited to announce our investment in @gomalomo $2.8mm Seed round, the largest Seed round by a Black founder in Indiana to date. The round was led by three underrepresented funds with us, @Base10Partners and @VitalizeVC
techcrunch.com/2020/10/02/in…
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Values only matter if you live and breath them. Set your values for the new year if you haven’t. Our 7 core values are
1) Over-communication
2) Process is Religion
3) Data Drives Decisions
4) Long-term Vision
5) Reputation is Everything
6) Dream Bigger
7) Enjoy the Journey
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🚨New season of the More Equity Podcast - the Gamechangers! Hear from individuals creating new models in VC. First up @MacConwell, founder of @RarebreedVC. Hear how he leveraged twitter to turn Rarebreed into reality
Apple apple.co/3op7dN9
Spotify spoti.fi/3i9ZEFM
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What a busy week for the team. We closed 2 new deals, did 2 follow-ons, signed a term sheet and offered a term sheet. Busiest deal week to date, more to come 🚀
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Thanks for including us on the inaugural Blacklist 100 @Forbes 🙏🏽
forbes.com/sites/ravaldavis/…
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Read and Share Alert: Part 2 of our BHM series on diverse VC GPs is for investors and focuses on:
1) Raising your own fund
2) Sourcing and due diligence
3) Building a diverse portfolio
4) Investment trends
Thanks @KeshaCashIAFund @kerby @chudson @SLP_EDU
medium.com/@harlemcapitalpar…
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Junior investors: Push your seniors to expose and train you on legal docs post the term sheet as it will be key as a Partner. Many firms won’t give you access or fully outsource to counsel. You can’t do deals if you don’t close them. Become a master of deals, that includes legal
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What an honor for the team tonight to get honored with Robert Smith at the NY Academy of Medicine. He has inspired us in so many ways and it's amazing to share a platform with him
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We are excited to announce the Diversity Rider in term sheets to encourage more underrepresented investors on cap tables. The goal is for investors to encourage founders to diversify their investors
axios.com/venture-capital-fi…
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Getting your company in front of the ‘right’ team member at VC funds does matter. Each has a slightly different interest for types of deals. You can’t always figure out what that is, but it can really help if you can. So here’s our current team interest 👇🏽
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🚨 Fund alert: Congrats to @pauljudge on launching @panoramicvc, a $300mm fund focused on non-coastal and diverse founders. Huge for ATL and Southeast ecosystem
panoramic.vc/news/300-millio…
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🎉Exciting News! Congrats to @gabbycazeau, our new Partner, and @nic_detommaso, our new Principal! Gabby's journey from intern to Partner inspires us and Nicole's impact in the VC world is remarkable. They're shaping the future of venture capital! 🚀🌟
harlem.capital/elevating-exc…
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Series A Alert 🚨 Congrats to Dr Lisa Dyson and @AirProtein on a $32mm Series A by @GVteam, @GingerBreadCap, @Barclays and others. This is one of the largest Series As by a WOC ever 👸🏾
theceomagazine.com/business/…
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We love seeing our past interns crush it. Congrats @OrlandoGomezzz on launching @Web3Familia. Excited to build with you in the space.
businessinsider.com/web3-fam…
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⚡ Who are the LATAM Women founders that raised $4B in 2021?
Harlem Capital’s Latin American Women Founders report analyzes the 128 women-founded startups that raised VC funding in 2021. How much did they raise compared to peers? Get the scoop🧵
harlem.capital/128-latam-wom…
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