ODD BIRD

We empower Black founders to build the impossible. Black founders are over mentored and under funded‍. ‍0.24% of VC funding received by Black entrepreneurs - 38 businesses in total, of those only one Black female founder raised Series A. A VC accessibility gap: 88% of Black founders in the UK self-fund at least part of their venture. ‍There’s always been entrepreneurialism in the Black community. Venture capital just hasn’t made its way to them yet. Our 5-year vision is backing 30 Black-led startups from the Black Seed programme by 2026 across the UK.‍ Our co-working space in Brixton is a space to connect Black founders. As a portfolio company you get access to our venture studio and resource hub.

Parallel18 is a program of the Puerto Rico Science, Technology, and Research Trust, a private non-profit organization created with the goal of maximizing Puerto Rico’s participation and creation of jobs in the global knowledge economy by promoting investment and financing of science and technology research development. The organization manages and hosts over a dozen initiatives that range from grants and technical support to meetups and educational resources for researchers, entrepreneurs, farmers, investors, and other groups. At parallel18, we are changing the narrative of Puerto Rico’s economy by promoting a diverse business community. We believe in creating opportunities for entrepreneurs of underrepresented groups in the innovation ecosystem and support their goals of building a high-impact business that can reach the world.

Early-stage tech venture fund investing in immigrant founders building amazing scalable products.

Our members have invested $1.38 billion into 2,000 entrepreneurial companies. In all regions of Canada, we work to mobilize angel capital so that entrepreneurs have the financial resources they need to scale and grow world-class companies. In partnership with academic institutions, investor groups and innovation organizations across Canada, NACO is developing a solution to the multi-dimensional challenges women entrepreneurs are facing. Our solution is a sophisticated online education and investment platform that empowers women entrepreneurs with a customized learning experience around their particular needs and circumstances and to connect directly to our national network of 4,200 investors. NACO administers the business incubator and angel streams of the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Start-up Visa Program in the designation of angel groups, incubators and accelerators across the country.

EXPERT DOJO IS THE MOST ACTIVE INTERNATIONAL EARLY-STAGE STARTUP ACCELERATOR IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. WE INVEST $100,000 IN EACH OF OUR STARTUPS AND HELP THEM GET TRACTION AND SCALE FASTER THAN THEY COULD EVER DO BY THEMSELVES. Since 2018, we have invested in over 220 startups to accelerate their growth. What makes us special is our focus on building visionary companies. We typically invest in pre-seed and seed stage startups that have a product, a go to market strategy and a potential for high growth. Most of our startups are minority and female founded technology companies. However, we remain industry agnostic and invest in founders from all over the world and from diverse backgrounds. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important pillars of our community and we strive to improve in every aspect of our organization. Out of our 105 investments, 41% are into female founded/led companies. We rank higher in comparison to the top accelerators in the US, with an average of only 18.8% of their investments being into female founded/led startups.

Mila Ventures is building the Venture Scientist platform: an integrated venture-creation engine designed to translate frontier AI research into world-class companies - rooted in Canada, built for the world. Mila Ventures operates within Mila, a prestigious AI research institute based in Montréal, founded by Yoshua Bengio, one of the godfathers of modern artificial intelligence and a pioneer of deep learning. The platform brings together: Mila Venture Studio (co-creating companies with professors, students, and entrepreneurs) Mila Accelerator (early company building and scaling) Venture Scientist Academy (training researchers to become venture builders) The Mila Venture Fund (in formation) We operate at the intersection of AI research, venture creation, and capital, working closely with Mila's globally renowned researchers, students, founders, investors, corporate partners, and public institutions.