Washington State Black Angel Network

Black and ally scholars, founders, investors, and startup ecosystem veterans of every stripe, please RSVP at the link below to join us on Saturday November 9th from 1-5pm at UW Foster School of Business for Venture Black's Q4 Venture Conference where we will strengthen the pipelines of diversity into the Pacific Northwest startup ecosystem by demystifying pathways into high-growth venture-scale entrepreneurship and investment. (RSVP Link: https://bit.ly/q4Venture) Tosin Dada, Keisha Credit, MSE, Teddy Johnson, Mark Monroe, Kia Davis, Frederik Groce, Rose Kaz, Chinua Iloabachie, Zachary Jeffreys, JASPER KINNAY, Jesse Posey, Louis Newkirk, David Garner, Washington State Microenterprise Association ~ Official, Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL), Technology Alliance, UW Consulting and Business Development Center, UW Foster School of Business

Thanks to the Black Innovation Alliance for doing the hard work of assembling and promoting policy agenda confronting project 2025 straight on with a response from the innovation economy! I’ll be lifting up some of this insight at WTIA’s Full contech conference on 9/24 to support the PNW startup ecosystem. Policy work has been heavy in my thoughts and I’ve seen great work being done this year having attended Victor W. Hwang’s Right to Start’s events in Seattle and Portland and seeing the great work being done with Tabor 100 & FMS Global Strategies in support of VertueLab’s 45Camp climate tech accelerator. Venture Black will be activating these strategies throughout the PNW startup ecosystem.

Today is the big day! Launchpad Expo: Black in Tech Venture Conference doors open at 1:30pm. We’ll have an excellent keynote from R. Miller Adams of Pier 70 Ventures, A panel on the state of Black Venture in the Pacific Northwest with Aina Abiodun executive director of VertueLab, Sarah Studer chief storyteller at TrueMedia.org, and Madin Akpo-Esambe general partner at Tacoma Venture Fund (TVF). After the panel, we will have the demo day pitches of the four finalists of the Dreamward Event Fund: Dopl Technologies, yShade.ai, ABC Travel Greenbook App, and Remynt who are competing for $50k-$100k of investment from the Washington State Black Angel Network. Lastly, the pitching founders and more will be exhibiting their startups roadshow-style. Don’t forget to registerster at the link below if you haven’t already. https://lnkd.in/gbUnTu84

The duo behind the Washington State Black Angel Network have launched Dreamward Group, a new Seattle-based fund that plans to invest in diverse founders, including early-stage startups led by Black entrepreneurs.