VISIBLE NEWS
Visible Hands is a VC firm that funds and empowers
underrepresented founders launching high-growth startups.
Happy Friday, VH community,
We hope you're having a great start to a new month! We have some big news about our portfolio companies that we are ✨thrilled✨ to share! Felicidades to '22 Visionary Yamillet Payano who recently closed a $1M pre-seed round and an NSF grant for Sign-Speak, an AI SaaS product that allows seamless interaction between Signers (predominantly Deaf / Hard of Hearing individuals) and Non-Signers (predominantly hearing individuals). We are proud investors and very proud of her recent achievement!Major congratulations to '22 Visionaries Megan Duong and Ethan Phan of Plot for recently raising a $3M Seed Round led by Alexis Ohanian at Seven Seven Six, and with co-investors including Sophia Amuruso's Trust Fund, Potluck Ventures, Visible Hands, and Broom Ventures. Plot is an end-to-end creative operations platform for creative teams to project manage, access deliverables, and collaborate with teams in one powerful source of truth. Sign up for their waitlist today!In a time when we see venture funding drop for female-founded teams, we are proud of our founders for defying the odds in fundraising and building amazing companies! If you are a founder on your journey who is currently frustrated with the fundraising journey and grind, Yamillet has a message for you:As we start this new month, we want to use this opportunity to re-align and continue striving toward our goals. We encourage you to do this while also continue balancing our work with our well-being. We know that managing your emotional runway and your company's financial runway is not easy, so we're hosting a half-day event in partnership with WeWork and Silicon Valley Bank called "Building Wellness and Wealth" during SXSW. If you'll be in Austin on Monday, March 13th, we welcome you to join us at WeWork Austin SXSW Center for this event. Scroll down to read for more information on the event and to register. Spots are limited so sign up today! Plus, we've shared some other events we will be attending that week. We can’t wait to see you there.Be well,The VH Team
Last week, VH Co-Founders and GPs Yasmin Cruz Ferrine and Daniel Acheampong participated as speakers and judges for the 4th Annual AASU Black Tech Summit at Harvard Business School (see images above!). Congratulations to '22 Visionary Olutosin Sonuyi who pitched during the event and took home a New Venture Competition prize!
We're excited to share that a new program is coming very soon...
Please join us for “Building Wellness and Wealth” a half-day event on Monday, March 13th where we offer authentic community-building opportunities, panels, and talks ranging from “From Day 0 to Seed Stage Founder Journey” and “Reducing Founder Burnout.” We’re co-hosting this event at WeWork SXSW Center in partnership with Visible Hands, WeWork, SVB, and amazing co-organizers like Goodie Nation, Inicio Ventures, VCFamilia/FounderFamilia, and LBAN! Please register to attend today!As a part of our programming, we’re having special guest Isoken Igbinedion, Co-Founder & CEO of Parfait join us for a fireside chat to discuss how she went from Day 0 to securing a $5M seed round with some of the top investors in the industry. We’ll talk about how to effectively fundraise, how to build relationships with potential investors, and the challenges of raising capital in the early stages.
Event details:⏰ Monday, 3/13 between 9-1 PM CST📍 WeWork Austin - SXSW Center🔗 Register here: https://lu.ma/q20jvkpq
We will also host a Happy & Well Hour with Visible Hands at the same location from 1-3 PM CST if you are around! It will be a casual networking reception with some networking stations and fun/functional beverages. Sign up here; space is limited.
OTHER SXSW EVENTS
Don't miss checking out Atento Capital's Tulsa House at SXSW 2023 featuring a panel titled "Investing in the Underinvested" with Michael Basch, General Partner, Atento Capital; Kimmy Paluch, Managing Partner, Beta Boom; Nisha Dua, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, BBG Ventures, and our very own Daniel Acheampong, General Partner, Visible Hands! #TulsaAtSXSW Event details: Saturday, 3/11, Downtown Austin, 🔗 Register here.Our perks partner, Justworks is taking over the East Austin Hotel on March 10th and 11th to cultivate an environment of relationship building, surprise (anyone else ready for random "Mimosa Moments"!), health and wellness, and, of course, education/office hours for all our community friends!Event details: Friday, 3/10 - Saturday, 3/11, East Austin Hotel, 🔗 Register in the links above!BrainTrust Founders Studio (BTFS) is back with Founders House in downtown Austin during SXSW from March 11th - March 12th. Partnering with the Black Excellence Society (formerly known as For(bes) The Culture), Founders House is the premier destination for founders, tastemakers, influential leaders, and cultural amplifiers. Come sip & chill, dine, learn, and so much more!Event details: Saturday, 3/11 - Sunday, 3/12, Downtown Austin, 🔗 Register here.Our friends at Goodie Nation are hosting "All Founders Need Therapy @BlackFutureHouse" an event that provides entrepreneurs an outlet to vent frustrations through powerful small support groups with other founders.Event Details: Saturday, 3/11 from 5-7 PM, Downtown Austin, 🔗 Register to attend here! If you're looking for a curated list of SXSW recs for diverse and female founders & funders (and allies), check out this blog by our friends at Growth Warrior Capital.
Founder Updates, Asks, and Wins:
Villie, a platform for expecting moms, grew their Pinterest engagement to 3 million monthly engaged and used it to find early customers. Read about how the founder, '22 Visionary Kim Jolasun, did it here!
'21 Visionary Alyse Dunn of CareCopilot runs an NYC-based Meetup group for people who take care of their aging parents. Learn more and sign up to join here!
'22 Visionary Shannon Morales of Tribaja is hosting the Diversitech 2023 experience from May 3-May 5 for tech enthusiasts, creatives, entrepreneurs, and professionals to enhance their skills, connect with peers, and discover the latest innovations. Learn more and reserve your spot here.
'22 Visionary Dominique Olowolafe of Lightly will be speaking on a panel at the inaugural Travel & Hospitality Innovation Sessions at The Summit in Las Vegas!
Congratulations to '22 Visionary Nicodemus Madehdou of JumpButton Studio on organizing the PHL Gaming event in Philly last week!
Congratulations to '21 Visionary team Parfait for their product being worn by Serena Williams at this year's NAACP Image awards!
Congratulations to '21 Visionary Devin Dixon of Bingewave and Glitch for recently winning $10K in the Startup Runway Pitch Competition!
Congratulations to '21 Visionary Su Sanni of Dollaride who was recently featured in Bloomberg City Lab!
Congratulations to '21 Visionary Noelle Acosta of Noula, who spoke at the Reproductive Health Innovation Summit in Boston about centering patients in their care earlier this month.
➕ Founder funding, community resources, and events:
TaxTaker is hosting a weekly live Ask Me Anything virtual meetup every Friday at 9 am PST so founders across the US can ask questions relating to tax credits. Learn more and register here.
UVFC Founder's Lab is hosting a virtual office hour event connecting female and minority founders with venture investors. Apply to attend and learn more here by March 15th.
Camelback Ventures is looking for BIPOC, women, & non-binary entrepreneurs making a positive impact in their communities through education and/or technology. The Camelback Fellowship provides $40k in funding, a dedicated venture coach, a tight-knit community, and an entrepreneurial curriculum. Apply here by March 20th.
Applications are open now for The Workers Lab: Innovation Fund, which funds early-stage ideas centered around making the ways our country serves workers more modern and inclusive. Learn more and apply here by March 27th.
Applications are open for three of Halycon's different fellowship programs! Participants in Halcyon's fellowships receive training in Investment Readiness, Business Fundamentals, Impact, and Leadership, among other program-specific benefits. Learn more and apply now by April 28th.
🌎 Ecosystem Spotlights:
Applications for the Google For Startups' Black Founders Fund in Africa, Brazil, Europe, and the United States, as well as their Latino Founders Fund in the US, are now open! Learn more and apply here!
Our friends at AWS are opening applications for the AWS Impact Accelerator: Latino Founders program! Click here to learn more about the accelerator and how you can apply starting on March 8th.
SPARK Accel, the nation’s first virtual accelerator and network for Taiwanese American entrepreneurs and leaders, is gearing up for its second program in April 2023! Applications are now LIVE for our spring cohort founders! Learn more and apply here by March 13th!
Graham & Walker is thrilled to bring their most impactful program for women founders to Seattle! Founder Day is a half-day of high-impact high-substance programming designed to help early-stage founders meaningfully move their businesses forward. Up next is Seattle on March 15th. Learn more and register here.
Raise Forum is now accepting applications from post-revenue startups based in the Southeast seeking funding between $500,000 and $5 million. Learn more and apply here by March 20th.
MIT Solve’s Global Challenges seek social entrepreneurs who are using technology to solve today’s most pressing problems. Those selected as a Solver team join a nine-month support program, receive access to over $1 million in funding, grants, and investments, join a powerful network of impact-minded leaders, receive coaching and strategic advice from experts, and gain exposure in the media, among many other benefits. Learn more and apply here by May 9th.
💼 Featured Jobs:
We're hiring a Spring Venture Capital Intern! Learn more about the role and apply to work with us here!
VHLX Team CZero is currently hiring a customer success lead, and mid-level backend software engineer! Learn more about the roles and apply here.
'22 Visionary Team Rivet is searching for a marketing hire! Learn more about the open Head of Marketing job here.
'21 Visionary Team Hearth Display is currently hiring for multiple roles! Learn more about each and apply here.
Forum VC is hiring! They're looking for a Managing Director to join their team of best-in-class team of investors, innovators, and operators. They also are a venture studio and are hiring founders! Learn more and apply here.
VH Board Member and CEO of UpTogether Jesus Gerena is currently hiring a Chief Development Officer - learn more and apply here.
Origins Fund is funding meets influence. They're looking to work with a freelancer, part-time helper, or intern to support content creation and social media management across platforms for the fund. If interested, please send an email to [email protected] with your resume and relevant work samples to apply!
🧑🏽💻 What we are watching, reading, or listening to:
Watching: Founding in Color, Peacock
Reading: How the founder of Villie used Pinterest to acquire users, Mogul Millenial and BLCK VC's 2023 State of Black Venture Report.
Listening: Girlboss Radio, Spotify
If you'd like your founder resource or event/conference to be featured in our weekly newsletter, shoot us a message at kerry@visiblehands.vc
"We celebrate the bold, the curious, and the irrational. We applaud those with big dreams, and who choose the harder, riskier path in relentless pursuit of pushing forward what is possible."
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