BGV Chicago Pitch Competition

Black Girl Ventures creates access to capital, capacity, and community for Black and Brown women-identifying founders. Nike is an American multinational corporation invested in the power of people to move the world forward and focused on diversity, equity & inclusion; responsible sourcing; and building community. Among other goals for 2025, they want to increase access to career opportunities and upward mobility for women employed in their facilities. Together we will partner to help provide more visibility, corporate mentorship, entrepreneurial education, supplier diversity opportunities, and funding for Black/Brown woman-identifying founders.

The BGV Pitch Program flips the traditional pitch experience on its head: we coach entrepreneurs, host a live crowdfunded pitch competition, then connect them to community and professionals to support them on their journey. We democratize funding by allowing the audience to vote with their dollars for the founder whose pitch they favor. The live-crowdfunding event is a high-energy, fun, focused and supportive environment that includes community in being a part of the entrepreneurial journey.

How does the BGV Pitch works?

• RSVP to receive the link to watch the show.
• Join us on the event date and listen to dynamic women pitch their businesses.
• You decide the winner by voting with your dollars for the pitch you favor on Raisify.co
• Each transaction of $5 or more donated to a pitch on Raisify.co counts as one vote for that pitch.
• The winner is determined by the number of votes. You can ONLY vote once for each pitch.
• You CAN vote for more than one pitch. The voting will be open for 7 days.
• After the voting closes we will tally the number of votes per person.
• All 8 women receive pre-seed funding for their business based on your donations.

Donations will open on October 7th at 6pm and close on October 14th at 11:59 pm EST

Winners will receive cash and prizes including:

• 1st Place Winner: 10K
• 2nd Place Winner: 6K
• 3rd Place Winner: 2K
•  Money they raise from the audience’s votes on Raisify.co 
• Google Cloud Credits
•  A consultation with a lawyer  
• Salesforce for Startups package 
• A consultation with an accountant  
• Direct funding and access to a new network of business owners and investors.  
• Discounts on HubSpot + access to training. 
• Access to Canva for 1 year. 

1-year membership to the BGV Connect Incubator, which includes the following:

• Peer Mentoring, business referrals, funding opportunities
• Weekly Virtual Co-Working & Pitch Practice
• Introductions to potential business partners.
• Monthly Women in Business Support Groups.
• Feedback sessions, coaching, and networking opportunities.
• Access to webinars, courses, and workshops (including replays).
• Access to experts, introductions, and insider knowledge on leadership development, thought leadership, and entrepreneurial education.

This event is open to the public.

We believe that the future of inclusion is NOT to create more silos, but that we can be leaders for Black/Brown women and everyone can help us do that. Everyone can cheer on and advocate for women founders at BGV!

The Black Girl Ventures Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization. All donations are charitable donations.

Got questions? We have answers! Email us at contact@blackgirlventures.org.