RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s largest fintech Nubank announced on March 24th the launch of the investment fund Black Seed, which will allocate a total of R$1 million (US$182,000) to Brazilian startups founded by black entrepreneurs.
The focus is on companies that have already validated their minimum viable product and that impact the market in which they operate through the use of technology.
David Vélez, founder and CEO of the digital bank, and Monique Evelle, the company’s innovation consultant, were to give more details about the project in a remote event on Wednesday starting at 1:30 PM on Nubank’s YouTube channel.
“We want to contribute to accelerate the consolidation of a more diverse technology environment that reflects the plurality that exists today in Brazil. This is a fundamental piece for innovation and, consequently, for the development of solutions that actually solve the main pains of Brazilians,” says David Vélez, CEO and founder of Nubank.
“We know that black entrepreneurs face many more barriers to raise investments and receive less support to build their business. We want to be part of changing that reality.”
In addition to the financial support, Black Seed will promote periodic meetings between the selected startups and external guests to exchange experiences and facilitate networking. The entrepreneurs will also be able to participate in specific mentoring sessions with Nubank teams in the areas of people, engineering and finance, according to the needs of each company.
“In order to have a more diverse technology environment, we need to question the patterns of contribution distribution. By creating a fund focused on startups founded by black people, we are taking an important step in this direction. More than just offering a seed investment, we will help create conditions to leverage these businesses and transform the statistics,” says Evelle.
Diversity
The launch of Black Seed is part of Nubank’s commitment to promote concrete actions in favor of ethno-racial diversity, inside and outside the company. Signed in November last year, the plan also foresees the creation of a software engineering, design and customer experience center, the “NuLab”, in Salvador.
The initiative also includes strategies for the inclusion and development of black talent in the digital bank, which are already being put into practice. Nubank’s goal is to hire two thousand black people by 2025 to ensure a work environment with at least 30% black employees and 22% in management positions.
The company is also including diversity criteria in the evaluation and selection of suppliers during the procurement process; educational training courses aimed at socially excluded black men and women; as well as increasing its internal team dedicated to Diversity and Inclusion; among other actions.
“In the last few months we have accelerated several measures to combat racism to ensure greater diversity in our teams, and we still have a lot to do. But we also want to influence the market as a whole and help make the tech sector more inclusive. The Black Seed fund can be an important tool in this regard,” says David Vélez.
Source: Exame