When we met back in 2016, we were just beginning to build AfroTech and BLCK VC. From the early days creating those communities, we witnessed the passion of the incredibly talented entrepreneurs in our ecosystems. Through those experiences, we learned how impactful it is when under-networked and overlooked founders connect and build together. It has been an honor and a privilege to be stewards of these communities, but after a decade of standing up grassroots ecosystems, we asked ourselves:
What if instead of hosting the community, we invested in the community?
We believe that founders closest to the problems are the ones most capable of tackling them– and often the most passionate. So we worked with founders to deliberate on what the ecosystems were missing. They expressed gratitude for panel discussions and networking gatherings but consistently said one need stood out among others: capital. From there, we knew capital needed to be paired with a partnership, and together, that could catalyze a founder’s journey. So we dreamed of a vehicle to support these founders. We dreamed of Collide Capital.
At Collide Capital, our mission is to guide founders on their institutional capital journey and equip them with resources, knowledge networks, and hands-on operational support for a successful exit.
Building a venture capital firm from scratch is a grueling process in itself and can be even more difficult for marginalized groups like women, managers of color, people without the networks of elite universities, and those without years of prior investor relationships to name a few. As two Black folks under 35, this journey has been quite the entrepreneurial roller coaster, and it helps us empathize and relate with the challenges our portfolio companies face. By standing in solidarity with our founders, we can work together to help them ideate and execute their grand visions because we too believe we are just getting started.
In order to confront the biases we knew we would encounter, in the beginning, we decided to take our time and raised $1.3M in the form of scout funds as a proof of concept that we affectionately refer to as our “Fund Zero”.
While managing those investments, we refined our diligence process and, most importantly, learned how to add value to founders. Since 2019 we have written small checks but we never had the financial backing to play a substantial role for founders until now.
We are proud to announce the closing of Collide Capital Fund I, an oversubscribed $66M fund focused on investing in founders building transformational enterprise SaaS, supply chain infrastructure, and Gen-Z minded consumer software.
No one builds or wins alone, and Collide Capital is no exception. Thank you to those who have supported us, those who have invested in us, and most importantly, to the founders who let us join their journey. We are excited for what comes next and have immense gratitude for your continued support.
So what’s next? With the additional capital and experience, our mission remains the same. We aim to be part of a wave ushering in a new era of venture capital where resources and opportunities are directed toward the most deserving, not the most privileged. We back a high-performing portfolio led by diverse founding teams who have the lived experiences, courage, and grit to create solutions for the next generation. We are structuring our firm so that founders of all backgrounds have the chance to build, scale, and exit a business surrounded by a cap table that prioritizes representation and diversity. We are committed to establishing a venture capital firm that stands for something greater than the sum of its parts.
Over the next decade, we don’t just want Collide Capital to be successful, we want hundreds of venture capital firms to be created and succeed in supporting the next generation of diverse talent.
As we grow, we aim to open more doors for others along the way and use the Collide Capital platform as an agent of change. We will continue to challenge ourselves to keep doing this work with integrity and alignment with our vision. We’re dedicating our energy to this — it’s a massive challenge but if this is a vision of the future you want to see, we hope you’ll join us.
Let's get to work,
Collide Capital
