Apply Now: SeedInvest’s Community Pitch Competition for Historically Underrepresented Founders
Three winners gain access to $40,000+ in prizes. Learn more and apply.
Securing startup funding is never easy, but for companies whose founders belong to historically underrepresented communities, the odds can seem next to impossible.
The story becomes painfully obvious when you simply look at the numbers. Women-founded companies garnered a paltry 2% of the record-setting $147 billion in capital that flooded into U.S. startups last year. Black founders got just 1.2%.
Recently, the VC community has committed to promoting greater equality and diversity in the companies that receive funding, but although some progress has been made, there are many miles left on the journey to a more equitable and inclusive startup landscape.
At SeedInvest, we believe great companies deserve to get funded, so we’re collaborating with Circle Impact to host a Community Pitch Competition specifically for startups with founders from historically underrepresented groups. Six finalists will compete for top honors as they show off their companies on the virtual stage in front of a panel of judges featuring industry luminaries, including:
- Halogen Founding Partner Jesse Draper
- Former NBA legend and investor, Baron Davis
- EY Managing Director Tasha Youngblood Brown
- Circle CMO, Sherice Torres
- SeedInvest Co-Founder & CEO, Ryan Feit
We’re putting up over $40,000 in prizes to help give three winners the opportunity to see their businesses reach their full potential. Prize partners including Ramp, Braze, and EY are providing access to products and services that have incredible value for any growing company.
A Crash Course in SeedInvest and Equity Crowdfunding
SeedInvest has helped over 250 companies reach their most ambitious fundraising goals through equity crowdfunding, a method of financing that allows large pools of individual investors to make small investments in startups.
This came about thanks to a multi-year legislative effort to pass the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2012. SeedInvest played an influential role in the passage of the Act, which ultimately made legal equity crowdfunding the law of the land. Since then, startups have raised hundreds of millions of dollars from everyday angel investors through equity crowdfunding platforms.
Equity crowdfunding lets founders raise the capital they need by tapping into a vast community of investors with funds to deploy into businesses they believe in. Since inception, SeedInvest’s investor community has grown to over 620,000, and the average raise on the platform reached $3.3 million in 2020.
Details and How to Apply
The competition is free to enter, and all applicants are subject to eligibility requirements. Six finalists will pitch live and three winners will be chosen by the lineup of powerhouse judges. Winners will receive equity-free cash prizes of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000 for first, second, and third place, respectively, along with the option to raise on SeedInvest with $10,000 in fees waived.
See full prize packages and apply here.
Applications can be submitted through May 20, with six finalists to be notified via email on or around May 24.
The competition will be held over a Zoom webinar on June 1st from 4–5.30 p.m. ET. Anyone can RSVP to attend — competition will be free and open to the public.
Amplifying the Voice of Underrepresented Founders
Despite the massive gap in startup funding faced by diverse founding teams, women and minorities are actually starting more businesses than ever. In 2020, 40% of new businesses in the U.S. were founded by women, and 47% of them were minority women. At the same time, the number of minority-owned companies in the venture capital, and private equity industries have increased more than sixfold since 2014, jumping 25% in the last year alone.
While there are glimmers of hope that momentum is finally shifting in the right direction when it comes to fostering a more inclusive startup community, the proportion of VC dollars that end up in the hands of minority-founded startups remains inexcusably low. According to Morgan Stanley, multicultural and women-owned businesses receive 80% less funding overall than their non-diverse counterparts.
To help close this gap, our industry must take every opportunity to elevate these extraordinary founders and their companies. The Community Pitch Competition is part of Circle Impact and SeedInvest’s continued commitment to create more opportunities for startups founded by historically underrepresented groups in 2022 and beyond.
