Black Tech Nation Ventures, the Pittsburgh-based venture capital firm that’s focused on offering seed and Series A funding to Black and diverse tech startups both locally and globally, announced on Feb. 28 that it has closed on its inaugural $50 million fund.
"We set up BTN.vc to equip and train a new generation of more diverse entrepreneurs and investors," David Motley, one of three general partners and founders, said in a release. "We are committed to providing intellectual as well as financial capital to help our founders navigate growing a successful company and opening up opportunities for future venture capitalists who are Black or diverse to participate in the industry."
Black Tech Nation Ventures said that, with the new fund, it expects to back between 20 and 30 companies at the pre-seed or seed stages, with initial investments ranging between $250,000 and $1 million, while reserving significant capital for follow-on funding for breakout companies. The firm was founded in 2020 and, in early March 2021, announced that it was raising an inaugural fund. Within eight months, it had closed on $25 million, halfway to goal.
Black Tech Nation Ventures is approaching a dozen investments in different companies in cities across the U.S. Its website lists 11 portfolio companies and includes Pittsburgh-based Kloopify, a green-tech platform that connects organizations with suppliers in real-time and gives purchasers immediate insights into the social and environmental impact of each purchase decision. In fact, Black Tech Nation Ventures led Kloopify's $1.5 million seed round in February 2023.
Black Tech Nation Ventures has backers that include Alphabet, Pittsburgh-based F.N.B. Corp, Pittsburgh native Mark Cuban, First Close Partners, Bank of America and Silicon Valley Bank. The three founders also personally invested in the fund.
Black Tech Nation Ventures is led by a trio of general partners, each bringing specialized skills and connections.
They are: Kelauni Jasmyn, founder and leader of Black Tech Nation, which she launched in 2018 with support from local foundations to create and grow an ecosystem for Black technology entrepreneurs; Motley, president and CEO of managed services provider MCAPS LLC and co-founder of the African American Directors Forum; and Sean Sebastian, founding partner of Birchmere Ventures which debuted in 1996 and became one of the region’s biggest venture capital firms.
"This has been a journey like no other," Jasmyn posted on LinkedIn. "I would've never imagined I'd be so fortunate to build a fund of this size. But we did it ..."
The fund is focused on investing in Black and diverse startup founders and/or teams nationwide and, in special cases, outside the U.S. This means the inclusion of any groups that have traditionally been locked out of access to capital, such as Black, Latinx, female, indigenous, LGBTQIA, differently abled, veteran. It targets seed stage, pre-revenue startups currently in pilot with promising customers and in areas such as SaaS, online marketplaces, AI and blockchain. But Black Tech Nation Ventures said it welcomes other models, as long as the young company's product is highly reliant on technology.
