UrbanGeekz 50: Venture Capital

Adeyemi Ajao, Managing Partner – Base10

Born to a Spanish mother and Nigerian father, Adeyemi Ajao, spent his formative years in Nigeria and Italy before his family moved to Spain when he was nine years old. Ajao studied in Spain before embarking on an MBA at Stanford. He also holds a J.D. in Law and an M.S. in Economics from Icade University in Spain and studied for a certificate in Machine Learning at Stanford.

With a stint at McKinsey under his belt, Ajao went on to co-found Jobandtalent, the world’s largest on-demand staffing marketplace, now valued at over $ 2 billion. He then co-founder Identified, which brought revolutionary machine learning to HR. In 2014 it was acquired by Workday, having raised $ 22.5 million until that point.

With a track record as a successful serial VC-backed entrepreneur, Ade co-founded Base10 in 2018 with TJ Nahigan. The fund is the first Black-led VC firm to manage over $ 1 billion in assets. “We like to invest outside of Silicon Valley,” says Ajao, “Base10 invests globally with portfolio companies in the US, Europe, Latin America and Africa.” Roughly 60% of the firm’s investments are in companies led by women or minority founders. The firm has committed to a diversity pledge, investing 1% of its profits to support organizations fighting for inclusion and racial equality.

Arian Simone, Co-Founder and CEO – Fearless Fund 

Arian Simone, is co-founder and CEO of Fearless Fund, the first VC Fund built by Women of Color for Women of Color.

The Fearless Fund invests in women of color-led businesses seeking pre-seed, seed level, or series A financing. Its mission is to bridge the gap in venture capital funding for women of color founders building scalable, growth-aggressive companies. Fearless Fund is built by women of color for women of color. Institutional investors include J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Mastercard.

In 2023, the American Alliance of Equal Rights filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleging that a Fearless Fund program providing grants to Black women to grow their businesses violates federal civil rights law. The case is ongoing.

Simone is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, angel investor, and author. She received her MBA from Florida A&M and has over 17 years of entrepreneurial experience. She founded Fearless Magazine and the Fearless Platform in 2010.

She previously built a successful public relations and marketing firm with a portfolio of billion-dollar corporate clients such as Sony Pictures, Walt Disney, Universal Pictures, and more.  She is also on the Board of Directors for the Steve Madden Company. In 2020 she was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of their “100 Women of Impact”.

Henri Pierre-Jacques, Managing Partner – Harlem Capital

Harlem Capital’s co-founder and Managing Partner Henri Pierre-Jacques holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree and currently sits on the board of Amazon Black Business Accelerator Board. With 24 investment leads to his name and experience on 7 boards, he co-founded Harlem Capital with the ambitious aim of changing the face of entrepreneurship by investing in 1000 diverse founders over 20 years.

Recognizing that communities of color and exporters of cultural and economic value, Harlem Capital has invested in 91% diverse founders and 43% female founders across 49 investments spanning 13 cities and 3 countries. Founders Henri Pierre-Jacques and Jarrid Tingle have gone from their first venture capital fund of $40m in 2018 to a second fund in 2021 of $134m, with anchor checks from Apple, PayPal, and return investor TPG Capital. “There were no other funds that were racially focused with diverse people at the top,” says Pierre-Jacques. “So we felt like we had to start it ourselves.” Harlem is now able to use its funding to invest in fintech, e-commerce, HR tech, property, and wellness.

Recognized in 2023 as one of BAM agency’s Black Tech Titans and Business Insider’s Wall Street Rising Star in 2019, the series of accolades to Pierre-Jacques’ name are seriously impressive.

Serena Williams, Managing Partner – Serena Ventures

Recipient of 23 Grand Slam Titles, tennis player and world-class athlete Serena Williams is a woman who can do it all.

With four Olympic gold medals, and over $94 million earned in prize money – twice as much as any other female athlete has ever made – Williams has had a record-shattering sporting career. In 2022, Williams’ consolidated net worth was estimated at $260million.

Williams quietly launched the fund Serena Ventures a few years ago. With its motto “Play to Win” she made the firm public in 2019 with an Instagram post. With its headquarters in San Francisco Bay, California, the firm invests in early-stage startups. Amongst her portfolio of over 70 companies, which includes unicorns, are Lolli,  Propel, Cointracker, SendWave, Daily Harvest, and edtech MasterClass.  In 2022 Serena Ventures raised $111M from outside investors.

In an essay she wrote for Vogue magazine detailing her plans, Williams — who is married to Alexis Ohanian, a tech entrepreneur and co-founder of Reddit who also started a venture capital firm a decade ago — said that 78% of her VC’s portfolio “happens to be companies started by women and people of color, because that’s who we are.”

Marlon Nichols, General Managing Partner – MaC Venture Capital

Marlon Nichols is a seasoned venture capitalist. Founder of Cross Culture Ventures and previously Investment Director at Intel Capital he has turned his expert hand to MaC Venture Capital. Having raised $110m in its inaugural seed-stage fund, MaC intends to invest in 40 seed-stage companies across the world. “We look for ambitious founders who want to build billion-dollar category leaders,” said Adrian Fenty, who is also a managing general partner at MaC.

Nichols notes that the firm is not only focused on investing in more Black and Brown founders but also intends to “power companies that are closing the opportunity gap for large groups of people and create more diversity across a wide range of verticals.” MaC offers a hands-on approach, providing operations strategy, brand building, and recruiting support to entrepreneurs within its portfolio. The firm’s limited partners include Foot Locker Inc, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and the University of Michigan.