Seed to Harvest

We help and invest in entrepreneurs from diverse underrepresented communities go from 0-10 via pre-seed funding, pre-accelerator support, and early talent matching/team building.

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!

January Ventures is a VC fund focused on angel/pre-seed in the US & Europe. We are replacing the friends & family round and re-writing the networks in venture. We believe the founders of the next decade will look fundamentally different: more female, more diverse and more distributed. We back founders based on their tenacity and ambition, not their pedigrees or who they know. Our vision is an equal opportunity tech ecosystem. Our firm is built on the principles of transparency and access, and we back founders based on their tenacity and ambition, not their pedigrees or who they know.

New York Ventures supports high-growth companies and their partners to use technology to solve important challenges in areas of strategic interest and importance. We actively look to provide greater access to venture capital for regions, industries and individuals, including women and minority entrepreneurs and fund managers. Our goal is to build a robust startup ecosystem across New York State, leveraging public and private sector assets. New York Ventures is actively deploying over $300 million of capital through equity programs for both direct and indirect investment. In 2022, New York was awarded funds via the U.S. Department of Treasury State Small Business Credit Initiative, which helps us to support our several programs. Venture Capital Program Funds Pre-seed and Seed Matching Fund: $30 million fund for investing in venture backable start-ups at the early stages of their development NYS Innovation Venture Capital Fund: $135+ million fund for investing in venture-backable startups from Seed through Series B Emerging and Regional Partner Fund: $102 million fund for investing in diverse and emerging venture fund managers or managers who invest in undercapitalized regions in NYS Community and Regional Partner Fund: $52 million fund for investing in venture fund managers who operate or partner with mentor-based programs like accelerators Impact NY Ventures programs and companies create impact in numerous ways, but we are proud of the range and diversity of companies and managers that all our programs have supported since 2011. 224 companies: More than 55% located outside of New York City $135M+ invested by NYS, matched by $900M+ from the private sector 43.3% portfolio companies started and/or led by women or minorities Team The New York Ventures team has extensive experience as investors and entrepreneurs, with offices in New York City, the Southern Tier, Western NY and the Capital Region. In addition, we regularly collaborate with our partners within the Small Business and Technology Development Division who help entrepreneurs at all stages of growth and development. Jennifer Tegan - Managing Director Silvia Garcia Codony - Assistant Vice President Karan Mehta - Senior Director Ryoko Nozawa - Senior Director Josh Nelson - Director Zack Pecenak - Director Audrey Chisholm - Assistant Director Elaine Chen - Operations Associate Thomas Halpin - Project Associate

At Dive In, we help world-class diverse founders and companies outcompete by using a rigorous multi-year coaching methodology with a proven track record for success. The future these founders and companies represent is one in which we are inspired to live, so we are doing everything we can to stack the decks in their favor. Increased funding is critical, but even with more capital, venture is an industry predicated upon 1 in 20 businesses succeeding. This is wildly inefficient. As successful operators who have coached over 800 companies, we believe we can significantly improve these odds. Dive In Powered by Talentism The greatest advantage startup founders have is the speed at which they learn. We’re powered by Talentism because they’ve figured out how to increase the speed of founder learning with clear results. 33% AVERAGE CLIENT IRR 4.4X AVERAGE CLIENT RETURNS AFTER SERVICES 89% OF NEW CLIENTS COME FROM CLIENT REFERRALS >8X OVER 20% OF CLIENTS OBSERVED +8.0X RETURNS WHAT WE DOCoaching: It’s not about changing who you are. It’s about seeing yourself clearly and designing around yourself effectively to achieve goals faster. Data & Analysis: Sharpen your picture of how your behaviors drive or hinder your team’s performance with evidence. Then do something about it. Training: Most founders are not good managers and do not know what good management looks like. See your management skills or gaps clearly, then build a strong management layer that learns together. Follow-On Investments: We reserve significant capital to back the companies we believe will scale after at least a year of coaching them. WHO WE SERVE DIVErsity INvestments define our name and focus because diverse companies outperform, because we are excellent at selecting diverse winners, and because we are uniquely qualified to increase their success. 36% top-quartile companies for ethnic and cultural diversity are 36% more likely to outperform bottom-quartile ones 9% higher EBITDA margins in diverse companies 25% greater odds of profitability with gender diverse teams

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.