Fifth Star Funds

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.

We are a VC firm that accelerates early-stage Latin American startups on three fronts: investment, knowledge transfer, and community building. We bet on projects with the greatest potential from their ideation, so that they can grow and scale exponentially, generating a positive and measurable impact on the economy and society. We are formed by a team of 15 people who are distributed across 7 different areas.

As an impact-driven organization serving remarkable entrepreneurs & ecosystems, we leverage corporate partnerships, specialized programming, meaningful mentorship, and capital investments to drive growth within the minority innovation economy. Lightship provides remarkable founders the resources and direction their businesses need to scale.

Founder of Flight Fund: Steven Bartlett. From a bedroom in Manchester, this 21 year old university drop-out built what would become one of the world's most influential social media companies. At 27 he took the company public - the company would reach a market valuation in excess of $600m. Steven is an entrepreneur, investor, public speaker, author and host of Europe’s most downloaded Business podcast: 'The Diary of a CEO'. In 2021, Steven became the youngest ever dragon on BBC 1's Dragon's Den. Steven is particularly focused on inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs and creators from a BAME background. At just 30 years old, he is widely considered one of Europe’s most talented and accomplished young entrepreneurs and philosophical thinkers.

We believe in enabling causes that matter, and the ambition to shape the future of humanity requires singular vision, independent thought, boldness, dedication and flexibility to adapt. We seek out people who challenge themselves to be exceptional – and champion that spirit in others. We define an audacious ambition with them, then work together as one team to create high levels of value that set new standards of excellence. We are an early stage venture studio that partners leaders and visionaries in business and society to tackle their most important challenges. We invest in people, ideas and businesses to achieve transformative results that bridge what is, with what can be.

Our strength is our diver­si­ty. The New Com­mu­ni­ty Trans­for­ma­tion Fund vision is shared among its affil­i­ates, each who take our approach will cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties, cre­ate jobs, cre­ate wealth in the communities NCTF was con­ceived of four years ago to build a more diverse econ­o­my and cre­ate eco­nom­ic pros­per­i­ty for com­mu­ni­ties of col­or. We work with scal­able, ear­ly to mid-stage busi­ness­es and tran­si­tion­ing suc­ces­sion com­pa­nies in var­i­ous indus­tries spe­cif­ic to your region.