Diversity Venture Capital

We've started companies as immigrants - we get it. Our journeys inspired us to create Unshackled Ventures so that we could remove the bottlenecks of immigration and amplify your superpowers. From starting their companies to scaling them, Unshackled helps immigrant entrepreneurs bring their powerful innovation and imagination to the world. We support via legal, capital, community, resources, partnerships, and networks. Since humans first discovered and used tools, we've learned to solve our problems creatively. Building. Trial and error. Learning and iterating. Collaboration. Great startups embody this creation process: they remind us what's possible, help us forge connections with others, and make meaningful differences in our lives. Unshackled focuses on, collaborates with, and deploys capital to the problem-solving acumen of immigrants. Here we aim to document the unique culture that has made us successful, and will allow us to keep succeeding. What makes Unshackled special is how abundantly and readily we: Put our people first - teammates, founders, LPs, everyone in our community Are willing to be vulnerable if it moves us closer to trust Deliver and receive feedback with candor Are curious and push beyond our comfort zones, and into our learning zones Orient towards generosity and kindness Lead with empathy See competition as an opportunity for growth; for ourselves and our team Create and cultivate joy in our work The thing we most value is working with exceptional people with integrity who are generous, curious, and believe in personal accountability. We are a team that holds ourselves accountable for our individual goals and outcomes, as well as to the firm's mission and vision. Values & Behaviors People first: High trust, high integrity relationship are our number one. We believe that, when we have strong and healthy relationships, the transactions come easy. The work flows. This means you... Are willing to speak and say what's true, even (or especially) when it's uncomfortable or difficult Understand and appreciate when someone has an important personal matter that affects their health, family, or abilities that impacts their work Exercise good judgement; you know when to discuss and when to be discreet with important information that affects people Put people over process Understand the deep importance of rest; have a practice or relationship to rest; respect when people prioritize rest and their health Trust & respect: We trust in our teammates. We respect divergent views, even in disagreement. Our operating belief is that we are all working towards the same goal, even if we may see different paths to achieve those goals. This means you... Assume positive intent; engage in good faith Understand that friction and disagreement can be constructive and, sometimes, necessary Articulate what is true for you and seek to understand what's true for your teammates Candor: Communicating openly and directly, even (especially!) when there is disagreement or tension is crucial to who we are as a team. We believe candor is care and, ultimately, facilitates learning and improvement. Candor is core to who we are and how we work. This means you... Are willing and able to give, and receive, honest feedback Care enough to be candid with your collaborators with so they can grow and excel Believe being candid is being kind Curiosity: We are perennial learners and maintain a steep learning curve. We favor calculated changes in opinions and courses as we learn new things over maintaining a plan or status quo. We are always willing to ask questions, learn more, and seek deeper understanding. This means you... Can exist, ideally thrive, in dynamic work environments See errors and mistakes as opportunities to learn and improve Aren't shy about asking for help or asking questions Deeply enjoying reading, listening to podcasts, attending talks, and anything that deepens your understanding and expands your knowledge Generosity & kindness: We believe we produce our best work when we come from a place of abundance. We are a "build bridges" kind of team. It doesn't cost us to be kind; if anything, it brings value to us and our work. This means you... Believe the Golden Rule is a good rule Readily help and support teammates and the Unshackled Community when asked and invited to Understand our work is important and valuable, but people, their health, and their families matter most Empathy: It's our responsibility to treat everyone in our community as equals and to level the playing field by minimizing or, ideally, eliminating biases, systemic or otherwise. This means you... Maintain a curiosity about people Endeavor to understand the potential in others Work to remove unnecessary and unfair barriers that impede you and/or others in the Unshackled Community from succeeding Competition: We believe in fair play. We also believe that friendly, good-spirited competition helps us improve. Competition is an opportunity to rise to occasions; to see how well our team is working together, as well as learn where we might work to improve. This means you... Don't shy away from a challenge; you may even enjoy the chance to overcome one! Have a strong competitive spirit Are rarely interested in upholding a status quo Take pride in opportunities to test your mettle Joy: We surround ourselves with people that know joy is crucial. We know that finding meaning and success in our work is table stakes for the health of Unshackled. We also firmly believe that happiness and exuberance are what pivotal to our health as people. This means you... Endeavor to grow and face challenges head on, while also never forgetting to count blessings Are clear-eyed and honest about challenges and just as clear-eyed when there's an opportunity to have fun and bring joy to y/our work Celebrate every win! Small, big, simple, hard-earned, all of it!

We aim to back the next wave of founders building the tools and platforms that will facilitate the shift from analogue to digital practices. We have a long and successful track record of investing in founders and companies providing highly scalable, digital technology solutions. We cultivate enduring partnerships with founders, providing early-stage investment from the inception of a mere concept on paper and offering comprehensive support throughout every phase of growth. This support goes beyond funding, encompassing genuine humility and hands-on assistance for both founders and their teams. About 1818 1818 is an innovative Venture Capital firm focused on early and growth stage digital technology companies. Typically, we are amongst the first to invest, and we always personally invest in everything we do. We partner with companies that have significant growth potential, and founders who have the vision, determination and commitment to achieve it. Providing capital is the first step of what we do. With a team comprised of entrepreneurial and motivated individuals, we serve an active role in our portfolio companies to ensure each business thrives to deliver the best possible results for our investors. Founded by a Serial Entrepreneur 1818 Venture Capital was founded in 2012 by Richard Avery-Wright, a highly accomplished and successful serial entrepreneur. Following in the footsteps of his ancestors who pioneered the Avery weighing scales in 1818, Richard has founded and co-founded several businesses himself. Among his notable ventures are Pie Funds Management, RAW Capital Partners, Castle Point Funds Management, Wealthify, and his latest endeavour, 1818 Venture Capital. The clients of 1818 Venture Capital reaped the rewards of Wealthify's successful exit, which resulted in a 22.5X return. Why 1818? Founded by entrepreneurs: Our team and network consists of highly accomplished entrepreneurs, enabling us to possess a deep understanding of nurturing and expanding early-stage companies. Alignment with investors: 1818 personally invest in every single investment opportunity offered to our investor base (and on the exact same investment terms), ensuring alignment and confidence in our selection process. Unparalleled investment standards: Our process allows us to meet with over 1000 Founders a year, yet we only typically invest in 10-15 new businesses per year, thus our bar for investment is extremely high. Empowering diverse founders: Our focus lies on supporting underrepresented founders and businesses with a positive social purpose. We believe that purpose-driven founders are more engaged and motivated and are therefore more likely to succeed compared to purely profit-focused ones. Competitive fee structure: Our fees are simple and highly competitive and we do not charge an annual management fee. Instead, we charge a one-time 5% fee upon entry, which covers the life of the discretionary managed account. A typical fund would charge 2% per annum over the 10-year life of the fund. Exposure to 'winners': Our venture portfolios exhibit a high level of diversity. They provide exposure to both promising new investments and what we believe are existing 'winners' (1818 portfolio companies that are experiencing exceptional growth). This helps establish a well-balanced risk profile and a diverse range of investment exposure.

Visible Hands is a venture capital firm on a mission to highlight and invest in the limitless potential of overlooked founders. We envision a world where talent and execution - not race or gender - are the key predictors for success. Our Manifesto Our world is changing. Our communities are changing - they are becoming stronger and more vibrant in their diversity, and face fresh possibilities and challenges as a new generation looks increasingly different from the last. We believe that as new opportunities arise, anyone should have the chance to seize them. The best solutions come from those closest to the problem - as our problems evolve, so should the problem-solvers. We believe that investing in women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups is key to creating a more prosperous and equitable future for everyone. We celebrate the bold, the curious, and the irrational. We applaud those with big dreams, and who choose the harder, riskier path in relentless pursuit of pushing forward what is possible. We also acknowledge that being a risk-taker often comes from a position of privilege - opportunity and wealth gaps persist along racial and gender lines, and access to financial and social capital too often determines which ideas are nurtured to grow. We believe that we must first acknowledge that the playing field was built to be unequal in order to change it. We know that we must change it. High-growth entrepreneurship should not be reserved for the privileged few. We need to shine a light inwards on our collective blindspots, and cast out a wider and more inclusive net to find and support existing talent. Instead of relying on unseen market forces, we’re taking matters into our own hands. No one should have to look a certain way to be deemed deserving; great entrepreneurs are all around us but we must choose to see them. By sharing our privileges with those not born into it and manufacturing fairness where it doesn’t yet exist, we can fundamentally change access to wealth and opportunity in this generation. This is our open call for anyone who feels stuck on the outside looking in: We see you. We value you. We need you. Your perspective is unique, your lived experience is invaluable, and your potential is limitless. Never doubt that your voice matters and that you deserve to be heard, even if it can feel like it doesn’t. We believe that good ideas, regardless of who or where they come from, should rise to the top, and we will fight alongside you to get them there.

Venture capital is living in a bygone era. Our industry uses its capital to fund disruption but, ironically, has done little work to disrupt itself. Hierarchy and homogeneous networks still dominate. Affiliated wealth creation is limited to closed networks of people. And the “game” is played with “rules” that don’t best serve founders. We know that having a diversity of perspectives leads to better outcomes. Organizations need to hear from enough vantage points to make the most informed decisions. And democratizing access to wealth creation broadens influence to a less uniform group. A change is far overdue.

We aim to provide more startups led by underrepresented founders with access to capital, executive mentorship, and partnership and collaboration opportunities to help bring their ideas to fruition. We hope that our investment will be catalytic - sparking a force-multiplying effect by inspiring others to invest, fostering inclusion and innovation, positively impacting communities, and creating generational wealth and financial return. What We Do To drive change that both scales and sustains, we invest in funds not only with capital but also additional resources for underlying portfolio companies: Capital: Venture capital to bring innovative ideas to fruition Executive Mentorship: 1:1 mentorship with Amazon executives to help accelerate success Access: Opportunities for partnerships, technical support, and scaling resources

Since its founding in 2009, H/L Ventures has forged a new way to build companies. H/L Ventures’ unique approach combines Daily Active Engagement with every portfolio company and a focus on investing in growth, impact, and diversity. Today, H/L Ventures manages a family of companies and funds that together comprise a holistic company-building ecosystem. At the heart of this system is H/L Studio, which was among the first venture studios to include social impact in its investment thesis. That venture studio is now supported by our opportunity fund, CityRock Ventures, and our managed services group, H/L Strategies, among other entities. Our team has pioneered an innovative, effective model that aligns the interests of entrepreneurs, investors, other stakeholders, and society to succeed together. At H/L Ventures, we apply these three key elements across our studios and funds: DAILY ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH FOUNDERS H/L Ventures’ involvement with our portfolio companies is as hands-on and supportive as possible throughout the entrepreneurship journey. This is the hallmark of H/L’s approach: we hold ourselves to a standard of virtually daily contact with every company in our portfolio, on an open-ended basis. This is not the empty promise of a website value-added page, but the core of our investment thesis. We host weekly calls with our senior portfolio team and each team of founders, which leads to daily activities involving our staff, Venture Partners, EPIRs, advisors, and network of service providers. All of this is in a supportive mode, meant to ensure that whatever needs our portfolio companies have, we remain actively relevant and helpful, every day. This care is given to all portfolio companies, regardless of which H/L Ventures vehicle is engaged. A POWERFUL ECOSYSTEM We respond effectively and proactively to our portfolio companies via a powerful team and community. Organized in a hub-and-spoke model around our core portfolio staff, four key communities help us co-build companies: Venture Partners & EPIRs, Advisors, Member Partners, and our affiliated Trusted Partner Network. Our team is shared across all our family of studios and funds. ACCESS TO CAPITAL From inception to exit, we provide many different forms of capital. Pre-Series A start-ups benefit from the H/L Studio model, where they enjoy access to virtually every form of capital, including human capital, social capital, networks, experience, and time. H/L does not normally invest in Pre-Seed rounds, focusing on our broad range of value-add services as we build a deeper relationship together via our Studio. We do however offer $100,000 in funding at the formal Seed round stage for our Studio companies [1, see Footnote], as well as an opportunity to leverage our extensive networks of co-investors to benefit the team’s fundraising efforts. Our opportunity fund, CityRock Venture Partners, invests at Series A and Series B. CityRock funds both qualifying studio portfolio startups and companies that come to us from outside of the studio pipeline, provided they fit our thesis and pass our standard due diligence process. Regardless of placement in the H/L Ventures ecosystem, all of our portfolio companies enjoy full access to our venture studio resources.