A new venture capital firm is on the block with significant capital at its launch. According to WWMT-3 TV, Kalamazoo Forward Ventures (KZFV), reportedly the first Black-owned investment fund in Southwest Michigan, has launched with $50 million in capital, derived from limited partners. The firm has as its purpose to arm underrepresented founders residing in Kalamazoo, MI, as well as startups. “We came up with that fund by thinking about what we want to accomplish in the community, the ecosystem, and the funds started growing as the ideas started growing,” Eric L. Wimbley, CEO and founder of First Line Risk Management and managing partner of KZFV’s venture capital fund, explained, according to the outlet. Jamauri A. Bogan, CEO of Bogan Developments and KZFV general partner, commented: “It’s our job now as investors to this community and this ecosystem to now get that capital to folks who traditionally never have it.” Also a part of the group is Bobby J. Hopewell, who was the former...

Kevin Johnson’s food venture is rapidly growing. As AFROTECH™ previously told you, the former NBA player who made headlines for becoming the first Black mayor of Sacramento, CA, is the founder of a restaurant venture named Fixins Soul Kitchen. He opened the first location in that very city, which is also his hometown, in 2019, notes Eater Detroit. “I grew up in Oak Park, so that was the poor part of the city of Sacramento, and like every city around the country, it was the underserved community,” Johnson told Eater. “I wanted to do our first Fixins in that neighborhood to prove that we could be successful in the neighborhood I grew up in.” Fixins Soul Kitchen has expanded and now has four locations in the following areas: Sacramento, CA (Oak Park) Los Angeles, CA (LA Live) Tulsa, OK (Black Wall Street) Detroit, MI (Paradise Valley) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fixins Soul Kitchen (@fixinssoulkitchen) The restaurant’s menu items were inspired by various soul food...

The founders of Eastside Golf continue to build on their momentum in the golf apparel space while staying true to their roots. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Morehouse College graduates Olajuwon Ajanaku and Earl Cooper founded the brand without a fashion background in 2019 after working full-time in corporate America. The company boasts products such as polo shirts, sweatshirts, pants, shoes, and accessories including bags, all tailored towards men and women. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Eastside Golf (@eastsidegolf) Beyond the product offerings, the founders have continued to pave their own way through their mission that centers moving the sport forward among the youth and non-golfers while increasing diversity in a predominantly white sport. Their vision has led to an increase in support as they scaled their annual revenue from $100,000 in their first year to $4 million in 2023. They kicked off 2024 with a $3.4 million raise led by EP Golf Ventures, and the...

Nat Robinson left behind a career in tech to create a label that introduced the world to MC Lyte, also known as Lana Michele Moorer. Robinson founded the Hip-Hop label First Priority Music, which materialized from an unsuccessful period in the concert promotion business and led to a more favorable outcome in the club industry. Before his entryway, he said he had worked at IBM. “I was actually an engineer for IBM,” Nat said, per Interrupted Blogs. “I outgrew them. After that, I went into the concert business. That was a disaster. From the concert business, I went into clubs. I had a very successful club called Tribeca in lower Manhattan, and after that, I got into the music.” First Priority Music was formed in 1986, per Robinson’s LinkedIn. He credits its inception to his children, Kirk “Milk Dee” Robinson, a Brooklyn, NY-born rapper inspired by the state’s Hip Hop scene, and Nathaniel Robinson Jr., who took on the nickname DJ Nat “Gizmo” Robinson. “The club and music business...

African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) has surpassed its funding expectation. AIIM was launched to “invest long-term institutional unlisted equity in African infrastructure projects,” its website mentions. The company’s investments extend across Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa, with $2.8 billion in assets under management. Now, AIIM will scale its work in light of reportedly raising $954 million, which comprises $748 million in commitments and $206 million in co-investments, Shoppe Black reports. Marking its fourth pan-African infrastructure fund, AIIM surpassed expectations by 50% with the backing of 29 investors from all over the world, such as pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, and family offices, with half of the commitments coming from Development Finance Institution (DFI) investors. “Given the challenging global fundraising environment, we are delighted to have outperformed the targeted fund size. We received strong...

Sometimes you have to lose to win. Entrepreneur Shorne Benjamin became the chef of a popular restaurant as a result of this. Cuisine Noir reports Benjamin once had a job on Wall Street working as a stockbrocker after he obtained a degree from Mercy College in New York. The career path was in alignment with his family’s backgrounds in finance and accounting. “When you get the opportunity to come to the U.S., you recognize that sacrifices were made,” he told the outlet. “That was on my mind and set the tone for me to try to be successful. I wanted to make them proud and not make them feel disappointed.” However, he lost his job in 2008 during the economic crash, and the standstill allowed him to pivot his attention towards his love for cooking, which began in St. Lucia with his grandmother Ma Benji’s comfort foods when he was just 8 years old. He made the decision to enroll in the International Culinary Center, which was named French Culinary Institute of New York at the time, and...

Samyr Laine took a page from Roc Nation’s investment book and is now helping other startups. Laine, a Harvard graduate who roomed with Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, is behind Freedom Trail Capital, an investment firm backing “fully functioning, well operated, effectively managed and revenue generating businesses,” its website mentions. The firm was established in 2023 alongside his wife, Ayanna Alexander-Laine. The couple-turned-founders also share history in the sports world as former track and field Olympians, with him representing Haiti and she, Trinidad and Tobago. “I love people and connecting with people,” Alexander-Laine told TechCrunch. “We know how to merge talent and business and found that athletes are good in these spaces. We also have the stamina to conquer other things and other entities outside of sports.” Freedom Trail Capital, featuring Ivan Lopez as a third general partner, has funded seven startups, including Issa Rae’s Sienna Naturals and Ciara’s Ten to One...

The movement behind Avante Price and Eli Taylor-Lemire’s POSH has yet to lose steam. In April 2023, the co-founders and event planning professionals shared with AFROTECH™ their unified mission for the live events platform. “ POSH was born to democratize the ability for any fan with a passion for live events to get involved in the space with as little friction as possible,” Price, co-founder and CEO of POSH, told AFROTECH™. “ Simply put, our mission is to democratize the ability for anyone to earn capital through live experiences.” POSH raised $5 million in a seed round in 2023, as previously reported by AFROTECH™. New investors are now joining in on its movement to disrupt event management. POSH has raised $22 million in a Series A round, Forbes reports. The round was led by Goodwater Capital, and additional investors included FirstMark Capital, Companyon Ventures, and Epic Ventures. In addition, Day One Ventures was an existing investor. “We believe that the next social platform...