Startups generally need two kinds of capital to grow: venture and social.
Unfortunately, access to those crucial resources isn't remotely close to being evenly distributed. Despite making up more than 13% of the population, Black entrepreneurs only got 1.2% of the record-breaking $147 billion in venture capital invested in U.S. startups in the first half of 2021, according to Crunchbase.
It's a multi-layered problem Kela Ivonye is trying to solve for, one connection at a time, through his new organization, Protégé. After all, it was the connections he fostered as a founder, coupled with his own resiliency, that led him to a successful exit from his smart mailbox company Mailhaven Inc. in 2019.
Founders helping founders
Ivonye, a first generation immigrant from Nigeria, moved here to attend the University of Louisville. He founded his first company as a student in 2012 and grew it to $150,000 in revenue before he had to shut it down. But along the way, he met Dave Durand, founding partner and former CEO of Forest Giant.
After several run-ins at pitch events and other meetings, Durand eventually offered to let Ivonye incubate his next business at Forest Giant. Durand's belief in his idea made all the difference when it came to building Mailhaven, Ivonye said.
"Dave really validated the idea of how social capital can have an impact on a person's ability to succeed," he said. "It's about having access to people who know the right people, the right companies and have seen the right level of success that can pass on some of that to other people. Those connections can produce life-changing outcomes for a person."
Years later, Ivonye, who is now an entrepreneur in residence at Amplify, was able to be that connector for another founder. He had found a kindred spirit in JoBé Products founder JoCari Beattie, who pursued a mentorship-style relationship with him just like he had with Durand.
Ivonye introduced Beattie to Andy Dunn, co-founder of Bonobos, which sold to Walmart for $310 million in 2017. Dunn was the one who encouraged Beattie to pursue a Kickstarter campaign that successfully raised more than $20,000 last year and spurred more than $100,000 in additional grant funding.
"I played a small role with that connection and assisting [Beattie]," Ivonye said. "But I began to see a pattern of how to drive momentum."
Dual investors and mentors
That's when the idea for Protégé began to take shape. Ivonye wanted to replicate his and Beattie's experiences with other Black entrepreneurs.
Dunn, who had already committed to meet with Black founders through his relationship with Ivonye, is a part of a larger group of "superfounders" or veteran entrepreneurs looking to invest in other startups in addition to sharing their time, networks and expertise.
Ivonye, founding director of Protégé, and Dunn, a founding board member and advisor, had the vision to change the trajectory of Black founders by pairing them with these superfounders or mentor-sponsors.
From there, the established entrepreneurs commit to 20 minutes of one-on-one time with emerging Black founders each week to offer advice and additional connections. They've also agreed to invest at least $20,000 into their protégé's startup.
In that sense, Protégé is somewhat similar to an angel investor group, but with a much more targeted mission around building networks and connections.
The organization has selected six Black-founded startups thus far — Ecotext (Boston), Posture Health (Bay Area), Claimcredit (Louisville), Yunit (Oakland, California), Fleri (Columbus, Ohio) and Matrix Rental Solutions (New York) — as well as eight mentors including Andy Dunn, Dan Sommer, Mandy Silverman, Mark Gerson, Philip Berner, Amos Schallich, Scott McCaskill and Danish Munir.
While Protégé has a nationwide focus and reach, Ivonye is hopeful it will have a big impact on Louisville's ecosystem, too.
"I know that it will bring a lot of value to Louisville," he said. "I really hope that in the next five years, I can say that I've helped bring up to 50 million in capital into the city just from connecting founders to the network."
If you're a founder or a veteran entrepreneur looking to learn more about Protégé, reach out to Ivonye at kela@ivytechlabs.com.
