Bright Ventures

We are a nationally-ranked venture capital firm and accelerator that brings together startup founders, investors, corporations, job seekers, universities, musicians and artists. The gener8tor platform includes more than 75 programs spanning startup accelerators, corporate programming, speaker series, conferences, skills accelerators and fellowships. gener8tor believes that everyone deserves opportunities, regardless of race, place or gender. And that is what we consider our mission. Why do we do it? Our mission is to be the best partner for a community to invest in its best and brightest. We envision communities achieving measurable and transformational growth through programming that enables equitable access and opportunity. We do what we do because we care about our communities. At gener8tor, everyone belongs. We don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Our goal is to close equity gaps for founders, continually improve the workforce, and foster relationships with diverse communities and organizations that are dedicated to DE&I. From the culture of our own company to the experience of our programs and participants, we strive to create an inclusive and safe environment for everyone.

Founded in 2006, Techstars began with three simple ideas - entrepreneurs create the future, collaboration drives innovation, and great ideas can come from anywhere. Today our mission is to make innovation accessible to everyone, everywhere. We do this by connecting startups, investors, corporations, and cities to create a more sustainable and inclusive world. Since 2006, Techstars has invested in more than 2,200 companies and today has a market cap of $27 Billion.

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.

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.

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 practice focuses on promoting new businesses with a positive social vision and impact. As we launch, grow and promote businesses, we create new realities for entrepreneurs, customers and all stakeholders around these new ventures, whether they are aware of it or not. The way new ventures impact society has enormous consequences and we chose to take a disciplined stance in collaborate with entrepreneurs whose work and vision adheres most closely with our own values: Equality Sustainability Freedom One way to learn more about the type of activites closest to home for us is to visit the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals website. Through these 17 goals we believe that our own values are very vividly exemplified and thus choose to work with entrepreneurs leading projects in the same direction.