The Alabama Capital Network (ACN) is assuming oversight and operational responsibility over the Birmingham Venture Club.
The club has been its own entity with its own governing body, but starting in 2022, Birmingham Venture Club meetings and activities will continue to move forward as a functional project of the Alabama Capital network. The club will still maintain its membership base and focus.
ACN said the two organizations determined in late 2021 that joining forces would enable them to accelerate efforts to increase investment in early-stage startups across the state.
“Both ACN and the Birmingham Venture Club have brought unique and necessary components to the venture ecosystem, and we saw the opportunity to join these organizations to accelerate our combined ability to grow Alabama’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by increasing access to capital,” said Joshua Jones, CEO of the ACN. In doing this, we also get the benefit of eliminated duplication of services and efforts, while still allowing each to serve its own unique mission and objective – venture inspiration and venture funding respectively.”
Each organization’s membership and events will stay distinct and maintain their particular focus areas, while some activities will include all members of the innovation community. ACN plans to continue to host the annual BVC meeting and to give out the Jemison Award and will announce more details on the dates and format of that meeting in the coming months.
“The Birmingham Venture Club has been at the heart of our entrepreneurial ecosystem for more than three decades,” said James Childs, chairman of the board of directors of the Birmingham Venture Club. “Our board unanimously determined that the opportunity to leverage the skills and experience of Josh and his team at ACN, especially in light of the strong strategic synergies that exist between the two organizations, makes this a compelling and natural progression of the club. We are certain ACN will be an excellent steward of the club and its pre-eminent Jemison Award.”
The bi-monthly lunches of the BVC will be phased out in favor of periodic meetings around key topics that aim to engage, inspire and educate members about early-stage investing and entrepreneurial keys to success. While membership and activities in each group will remain distinct, ACN staff will assume control of BVC operations and fold both organizations into a single nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization led by Joshua Jones, and governed by the ACN board of directors.
