Lightship Foundation

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.

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.

We envision an inclusive economy that thrives with innovation by realizing the value and potential of each of us. Our Mission: Building the Future Together We aim to transform people, companies, and industries in order to build a more equitable and inclusive economy. We work with today’s leaders to create long term growth by integrating diverse perspectives and dismantling personal, organizational and systemic barriers to inclusion. We are creating a new class of companies by investing in the next generation of inclusive ventures We believe that an inclusive economy thrives with innovation by realizing the value and potential of each of us. We build an inclusive economy alongside companies and people like you. We believe in the possibility of a brighter future. Let’s Build The Future Together We pledge to build a brighter future. We envision an equitable, entrepreneurial future, and we come alongside diverse leaders to build that future together.

Falak Startups’ mission is to find and empower talented and ambitious seed-stage tech startup founders and help them thrive in the region’s rapidly changing entrepreneurship landscape. Our sector-agnostic offering focuses on improving startups’ product-market fit; fine-tuning their business, operating and revenue models; growing their customer base; and raising follow-on investments. We arm entrepreneurs with the necessary tools, resources, and networks to develop their strategies and scale up their businesses. Our offering entails equity investment, growth hacking, networking, mentorship, training, and a wide variety of perks and benefits. After meeting the needed KPIs, our founders are able to showcase their startups on our Virtual Stage platform, a tool for connecting with potential investors, policymakers, stakeholders, and partners. Our support is ongoing through the startups’ journey. We are a constant advisor and advocate for all our portfolio companies. Falak Startups is offering an unrivaled ticket size of up to 2,000,000 EGP and provides the support startups need to gain momentum and accelerate their growth. Falak also supports its portfolio of startups in securing follow-on investments from venture capital firms, angel investors, and/or corporates.

Our work directs how capital is formed and distributed to expand opportunities for Black and historically excluded communities. We actively reimagine the innovation economy by developing the next generation of venture capital leaders in communities where entrepreneurs face barriers to accessing capital. Our vision is to build a global innovation economy where Black and historically excluded innovators can boldly create, fail, invest, and thrive. Our origins are rooted in the legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which forged opportunities for Black Americans in a time when our country would not. We are anchored in this intention, and similar to HBCUs, we purposefully extend our support to all overlooked communities, including but not limited to Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQ+, and undocumented immigrants. We know that innovation lives within us–and has been untapped, underinvested, and ignored for far too long.

Newchip is a virtual startup accelerator that provides world-changing early-stage companies with the software tools, training, mentorship, and the investor network necessary to successfully raise capital, build, and scale their businesses to eventual exit. We're in 100+ countries and have a portfolio of over 2,000 startups that have raised $1B+ in funding since our launch in 2019. Do you love Shark Tank? Imagine every day being like an episode but on a global scale, that's what we do. We recruit top startups and we launch virtual cohorts each month from our HQ in Austin, TX, with a goal of coaching each to a point of invest-ability. We then invest in our top program graduates alongside our 3,000+ investor network and work with them until exit. -We're a veteran founder team with decades of experience, acquisitions and exits under our belts, and we're looking for the next member of our team that meets both our core values and can add their skillset to our melting pot of diversity. -We're only recruiting entrepreneurial and driven individuals who are in it for the long haul to reach an IPO and that want to truly assist startups to drive results that create investment returns to our investors and investor partner network. -If you're looking to make a difference in the world and learn in 1 year what most learn in 5, we're here to provide the mentorship, leadership, and potential to make that dream a reality - if you're here looking for a 9-5, our company isn't for you. Apply today to join the 100+ employees in our HQ in Austin, Texas, or join one of our remote teams around the globe!