Blackout Tuesday

This Black History Month, we're embracing the theme of "Reclaiming Narratives" by amplifying the voices and stories of our community. Our Blackout Tuesday Event last week was a powerful testament to this, sharing the authentic experiences and successes of Black founders. We kicked off with our founder panel, featuring Avion Gray, Josephine Philips, and Ivan Beckley, MD, chaired by Andy Davis, that offered candid insights into the unique challenges and triumphs of scaling a startup from Seed to Series A. Followed by engaging breakout discussions giving deeper dives into key areas of interests from Fundraising to Investor Strategies to Community Building. We were honoured to close the evening with a performance by George the Poet whose powerful words reminded us of the importance of storytelling and cultural expression in the Black experience. As we reflect on Black History Month, we're inspired by the past and excited for the future. Platforms like Blackout Tuesday are stepping stones towards greater representation for Black founders, professionals, and investors in venture capital. Join our mailing list to stay updated on our upcoming events & initiatives: https://lnkd.in/ePeQybae

This Black History Month, we're embracing the theme of "Reclaiming Narratives" by amplifying the voices and stories of our community. Our Blackout Tuesday Event last week was a powerful testament to this, sharing the authentic experiences and successes of Black founders. We kicked off with our founder panel, featuring Avion Gray, Josephine Philips, and Ivan Beckley, MD, chaired by Andy Davis, that offered candid insights into the unique challenges and triumphs of scaling a startup from Seed to Series A. Followed by engaging breakout discussions giving deeper dives into key areas of interests from Fundraising to Investor Strategies to Community Building. We were honoured to close the evening with a performance by George the Poet whose powerful words reminded us of the importance of storytelling and cultural expression in the Black experience. As we reflect on Black History Month, we're inspired by the past and excited for the future. Platforms like Blackout Tuesday are stepping stones towards greater representation for Black founders, professionals, and investors in venture capital. Join our mailing list to stay updated on our upcoming events & initiatives: https://lnkd.in/ePeQybae

🗣️ The final speaker speaker at our next in-person event, Increasing Venture-backed Black Founders: Journey from Seed to Series A is Ivan Beckley, MD. He will be on our dynamic founder panel sharing insights around this topic. Ivan Beckley is a medical doctor and entrepreneur enabling digital transformation to create a more equitable healthcare system. He is the CEO and co-founder of Suvera, a healthcare company enabling virtual care for people with long-term conditions alongside primary care. He also holds a BSc in Global health and an MSc in Health data science. While at medical school Ivan worked with a number of leading health technology companies most notably Google’s DeepMind, working on AI healthcare algorithms for early detection of retinal disease. Ivan was awarded one of the top 10 black students in the UK by Rare recruitment and No.3 on the list of Top 100 African and Caribbean graduates and undergraduates by Powerful Media, both in 2025. In 2021, Ivan hosted and co-produced an Audible podcast uncovering bias in medicine which was rated one of the top 20 podcasts for the year by the Guardian. Ticket are sold out, but do join the waiting list: https://lnkd.in/ezH7KgAU

🗣️ We are thrilled to announce the second speaker at our next in-person event, Increasing Venture-backed Black Founders: Journey from Seed to Series A. Avion Gray will be joining our dynamic founder panel sharing insights around this topic. Avion Gray, is the co-founder of the wealthtech platform Belong, which has raised the largest pre-seed round in Europe by female founders. Belong's mission is to deliver new and innovative wealth-building products to the broader market, with a focus on professionally employed millennials. Belong, is the first platform to provide customers with an optional, low-interest, loan to increase their long-term investment in shares. Customers then pay back the ‘Boost’ loan separately, in small monthly instalments, allowing their investment to continue to grow. Belong's customers are able to choose from five, broadly diversified, index-tracking funds to invest in. This includes the MSCI World, S&P 500, FTSE as well as climate and ESG-focused funds. Avion, who is originally from Trinidad, studied finance at Howard University before moving on to investment banking and earning an MBA at Stanford. There are a few spaces left, please register here: https://lnkd.in/ezH7KgAU

🗣️ We are thrilled to announce the second speaker at our next in-person event, Increasing Venture-backed Black Founders: Journey from Seed to Series A. Avion Gray will be joining our dynamic founder panel sharing insights around this topic. Avion Gray, is the co-founder of the wealthtech platform Belong, which has raised the largest pre-seed round in Europe by female founders. Belong's mission is to deliver new and innovative wealth-building products to the broader market, with a focus on professionally employed millennials. Belong, is the first platform to provide customers with an optional, low-interest, loan to increase their long-term investment in shares. Customers then pay back the ‘Boost’ loan separately, in small monthly instalments, allowing their investment to continue to grow. Belong's customers are able to choose from five, broadly diversified, index-tracking funds to invest in. This includes the MSCI World, S&P 500, FTSE as well as climate and ESG-focused funds. Avion, who is originally from Trinidad, studied finance at Howard University before moving on to investment banking and earning an MBA at Stanford. There are a few spaces left, please register here: https://lnkd.in/ezH7KgAU

🗣️Speaker Announcement 🗣️ We are thrilled to announce the first speaker for our next in-person event, Increasing Venture-backed Black Founders: Journey from Seed to Series A. Ladi Delano will be on our dynamic founder panel sharing insights around this topic. Ladi Delano, British Nigerian entrepreneur, has made a significant impact in the global tech ecosystem with his startup, Moove - the world’s first mobility fintech company. Moove is a global mobility fintech that is democratising access to financial services for mobility entrepreneurs. The company achieves this by embedding its alternative credit scoring technology onto ride-hailing platforms, using proprietary performance and revenue analytics to underwrite customers who have previously been excluded from financial services. Since Moove’s launch in 2020, the startup has expanded to 10 markets across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, leading the charge in the mobility fintech sector. Moove’s commitment to democratising access to vehicle ownership and financial services has allowed the startup to secure a total of $250 million in equity funding and $210 million in debt funding. To date, Moove’s customers have completed more than 40 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles. There are a few spaces left, please register here: https://lnkd.in/ezH7KgAU

There are unique challenges Black founders face as they raise funding to scale their startups. At our next event: Blackout Tuesday #18, we’ll focus on equipping founders with insights as they move through the stages of growth—from Pre-seed to Seed to Series A. Our dynamic panel of Black founders will be sharing valuable lessons learned in key areas such as fundraising, talent acquisition, and product leadership. These discussions will provide practical advice on the complexities of startup growth around: • Navigating the path from Seed to Series A • Strategies for building and scaling diverse teams • Product leadership insights to drive growth Please register to attend in person by following the link below: https://lnkd.in/ezH7KgAU

There are unique challenges Black founders face as they raise funding to scale their startups. At our next event: Blackout Tuesday #18, we’ll focus on equipping founders with insights as they move through the stages of growth—from Pre-seed to Seed to Series A. Our dynamic panel of Black founders will be sharing valuable lessons learned in key areas such as fundraising, talent acquisition, and product leadership. These discussions will provide practical advice on the complexities of startup growth around: • Navigating the path from Seed to Series A • Strategies for building and scaling diverse teams • Product leadership insights to drive growth Please register to attend in person by following the link below: https://lnkd.in/ezH7KgAU

Blackout Tuesday partner, Newton Venture Program is launching its next cohort! Read more below 👇

We had an amazing afternoon with these founders and investors at Blackout Tuesday #17. Thank you to all who participated!