In honor of Black History Month, BLCK VC is launching a series of articles highlighting some of the amazing Black talent in Venture Capital (VC) today. For our second spotlight, we spoke with Mike Asem, a General Partner at M25 in Chicago, Illinois. M25 is an early-stage fund focused on investing in startups headquartered in the Midwest.
So, let’s start from the beginning, before entering venture capital where were you working? Can you share some key experiences?
When I was in college at Purdue University in Indiana, I knew I wanted to do something in the business world. I grew…
This summer, 11 brilliant and determined young professionals from across the country participated in the inaugural BLCK VC Breaking into Venture (BiV) Program, a fellowship for aspiring venture capital investors.
2020 marked a critical inflection point for BLCK VC. In a year filled with trials and tribulations, from a crippling global pandemic to a national reckoning of systemic racism, the BLCK VC network rallied around us, helping our team achieve significant growth as an organization, as a community, and as a movement.
As we reflect on this past year and the great strides we’ve made, we want to share our sincerest gratitude for our Committees and our Chapters that have been the catalysts driving our work for the past year. …
We are thrilled to have completed the first Black Venture Institute cohort with our 51 inaugural Fellows. This is an exciting step in our journey toward transforming the venture and technology landscape, with a goal of materially increasing the number of Black check writers in the venture ecosystem. Black Venture Institute (BVI) aims to graduate 300 new BVI Fellows over the next three years. The Black Venture Institute exceeded even our own high expectations, particularly with respect to the charisma and engagement of our outstanding Fellows. While there are many things we enjoyed about this first cohort, perhaps the most…
A month ago, we announced that we joined forces with Lerer Hippeau and Anthemis to launch our New York City fellowship program. The eight-week program is designed to provide Black professionals with a path to discover jobs in venture capital through educational programming, community connections, and mentorship. Currently, only 3% of venture capitalists are Black, with even fewer controlling the more than $80 billion invested annually in the U.S. Through this program, we aim to continue doing our part to diversify the talent landscape of the venture capital industry. …
In Partnership with Lerer Hippeau and Anthemis
Beginning this Fall, BLCK VC is launching a New York City fellowship program in partnership with Lerer Hippeau and Anthemis.
About the Program:
The aim of this program is to create an on road for Black professionals to discover jobs in venture capital through educational programming, community connections, and mentorship. Our goal is that our cohort will leave the program with a meaningful understanding of the industry, practical tools, and a network that will set them up to pursue venture capital roles in the future.
Program details:
The program will launch this October with 20 fellows from industries across banking, startups, consulting, and more. Throughout the eight-week program, fellows will take part in weekly sessions taught by investing partners from…
We won’t wait.
Blck VC is thrilled to announce the launch of our inaugural program for aspiring venture capital investors: Breaking into Venture (BiV). Our goal is to shine a light on the brilliant VC candidates in our community and equip them with the tools they need to successfully launch their venture capital careers.
For years our community has pushed for the diversification of the venture capital industry. Most black venture investors can recite the diversity statistics of this industry by heart while many of our colleagues have only just acknowledged this issue within the past three weeks. …
Dear Blck VC Community & Venture Firms,
This is a very tough time to be a Black American. Our hearts are broken. We mourn the criminal deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others — all while tens of thousands of Black Americans die from Covid-19 at unmatched rates across our country.
This is nothing new. It cannot be stated enough that this is nothing new. Black protesters, Black essential workers, Black men, Black women, Black prisoners, Black children die unjust deaths every single day. It is not only police brutality that oppresses our community, but…
Welcome to the BLCK VC medium page! This is our very first post, and we are so glad to have you. We wanted to take a quick moment to introduce ourselves here and to give you an overview of what our community is all about. You’ll find some stats, our mission and some programs that we currently have in place. As we roll out new initiatives and opportunities, we’ll update this post.
THE STATS…
BLCK VC
Connecting, Empowering and Advancing Black Venture Investors. We are the change that we seek!
