ABOUT | blackgirlventures

WHO

WE

ARE

the "B" stands for Black and Brown

Black Girl Ventures (BGV) is a culturally converging ecosystem igniting economic security, civic engagement, and hyperlocal infrastructure at the intersection of STEM education and entrepreneurship for Black and Brown woman-identifying founders, funders, and veterans.

We recruit & incubate
Local Change Agents
To galvanize their
Communities through
convening.

Change Agents aide in developing talent by creating programming at the intersection of STEM and Entrepreneurship.

Change agents commit to 2 years of working with local partners to create pathways to entrepreneurial opportunities, and lowering barriers to access to capital by executing BGV style pitch competitions using the SheRaise platform.

Our mission is to provide Black/Brown woman-identifying founders with access to community, education, and leadership development in order to meet business milestones that lead to economic advancement through entrepreneurship.

We fund and scale tech-enabled, revenue-generating businesses (under $1M) founded by people who identify as Black/Brown and woman. Our signature pitch program provides coaching, crowdfunding, and community for our founders. Black Girl Ventures believes in a world where all ideas have a chance to succeed.

Founded in 2016 by Serial Entrepreneur and Computer Scientist Shelly Bell, Black Girl Ventures addresses the unique challenges Black and Brown women face in accessing social and financial capital to grow their businesses. We have funded 41 women of color, held 25 BGV Pitch Programs across 8 cities and served 168 participants.

Black Girl Ventures pledges to to accelerate 100,000 Black and Brown women-identifying entrepreneurs through Community Building as a Service (CBaaS). Shifting the idea of community building from being viewed solely as a community service to a valid and viable business offering to ensure the development and growth of small businesses.

History

FROM THE “RENT PARTY” TO THE "GREEN BOOK" FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Black Girl Ventures began by supporting Black and Brown women entrepreneurs through our crowdfunded pitch competition program. Modeled after the historic African-American “Rent Party,” the BGV Pitch offers a creative way to raise funds and build a community for founders who identify as women, Black and/or Brown.

During a BGV Pitch, each founder has 3 minutes to pitch and a 3 minute Q&A from our Champions Panel. The audience then votes with their dollars via SheRaise, our tech platform. The winners are the top 3 founders who receive the most votes. All participants become part of the BGV Cohort and have the opportunity to gain access to capital, connections, resources and exclusive updates. Through our expansion efforts, we are keeping the rent party going while working to help Black/Brown founders navigate (Green Book) the entrepreneurial ecosystem.