"We've found that entrepreneurs from overlooked communities combine a deep understanding of the problems they are solving, how to build and scale a business around them, and a profound, personal sense of impact. There’s no shortage of bold ideas and investible businesses coming from these communities. The shortage is of investors with the cultural fluency to find and fuel these opportunities.”
— Kesha Cash, Founder & General Partner in Tideline’s The Alpha In Impact
Mayvenn is a marketplace that increases the income of independent hair stylists by providing them with their own websites and connecting them to new clients. It has paid out $20M in commissions and service fees to 7,500 active stylists.
Camino Financial provides fast, affordable loans to Latinx-owned small businesses, which are outpacing the national average for startup and employment growth and account for one-quarter of entrepreneurs in the U.S. It has deployed over $59M in 3,500 loans.
CareAcademy provides home-care agencies with the training, compliance, and administrative tools they need to support and retain caregivers, most of whom are low-income women of color. Their software is used by 500 agencies and has trained 70,000 direct care workers.
“The IAF team is increasing incomes and mobility for workers in communities of color while challenging biases around risk and return.”
– Cynthia Muller, director of mission investment, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
We come from everywhere. From the US and abroad. From academia and Wall Street. From big corporations and Silicon Valley startups. We all have deep, personal ties to the communities we invest in and believe in a shared set of values for our work.
If you’re a startup raising a Seed, Series A, or Series B round—or bridge capital to help take you from one to the next—we use a simple form to start the conversation. If you’re interested in investing with Impact America or otherwise joining us in this work, write to us.