DivInc Receives Grant from Bank of America for Early-Stage Accelerator Program
Funding scales crucial infrastructure support for Black, Hispanic-Latino and women entrepreneurs
DivInc, Austin’s premier startup accelerator for people of color and women entrepreneurs, is proud to announce its partnership with Bank of America, who is committing $250K to support DivInc’s early-stage accelerator program and participating tech startups.
Early stage, or pre-seed funding remains one of the biggest systemic barriers for underrepresented entrepreneurs. Bank of America recognizes business leaders must have access to essential resources and financial capital to successfully navigate the early stages of a company and to successfully raise the next round of capital that is needed.
This DivInc and Bank of America partnership removes such barriers by providing the programming and capital directly to the entrepreneurs. The partnership has three major initiatives:
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First, Bank of America will provide five $20K grants to five select DivInc portfolio companies.
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Second, each of the 10 companies participating in DivInc’s Spring 2022 Accelerator Program will receive a $10K grant as part of the program, and an additional $25K will be devoted to the 2021 Accelerator Program.
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The third component will support the establishment of DivInc Ventures, an equity investment fund focused on pre-seed investments, scheduled to launch Q4 of 2021.
“We’re extremely excited to work with Bank of America to provide vital resources for DivInc’s founders. We know the first step to addressing the lack of access to capital for Black, Latinx and women founders is to invest in their companies at the early stages, which gives them the crucial first step to launching their business and sets them up to attract more investors along their entrepreneurial journey. Bank of America gets it, and by providing these grants directly to DivInc alumni companies, they’re showing up for our communities and giving these companies the opportunity to grow and succeed and build generational wealth,” said Preston L. James, II, CEO of DivInc.
“Bank of America is committed to creating a more accessible and inclusive ecosystem for entrepreneurs of all backgrounds, recognizing that small businesses are essential to Austin,” said David Bader, President of Bank of America Austin. “Supporting DivInc in their mission to generate social and economic equity through entrepreneurship is a natural extension of our work and we look forward to following the stories of these talented entrepreneurs as they help fuel our local economy.”
This grant is a part of Bank of America’s $1.25 billion commitment over five years to advance racial equality and economic opportunity. Announced in June of 2020 and expanded further in March of 2021, the Bank’s commitment is focused on driving change in the areas of health, jobs/reskilling, supporting small businesses, and affordable housing.
DivInc alumni on the importance of the Bank of America grant:
“There’s a certain type of hardship that underrepresented founders face when accessing capital,” said Darsha Carter, Co-Founder, Melanoid Exchange. “To live through the experiences of being turned down by those who have accepted way less from our counterparts can be nothing short of demeaning. Divinc understands the essence of not just telling underrepresented founders they are creditable and valuable but also making sure we receive the capital to fulfill the value in which they see in us. My company and I are forever appreciative of the opportunities afforded to us through their efforts.”
“Divinc has consistently provided the education and network and support to produce capital-ready founders,” said Roman Gonzalez, Founder and CEO, Gardenio. “Yet founders from underestimated backgrounds lack that network of capital to draw upon for the mythical “friends and family round” to reach the next level of traction for more institutional investors to become interested in their deals. Because of this, I am of full conviction that the single greatest barrier toward the success of companies led by underestimated founders is capital. We can all advocate, we can all speak, we can all give time, but when we put our dollar down, we’re saying we not only believe in the power of underestimated founders, we’re saying we want and will help create a future of more underestimated founders, and that’s powerful.”
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About DivInc:
DivInc is a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to generate equity through entrepreneurship by equipping underrepresented founders with access to the critical resources they need to build successful companies. DivInc offers programs including a 12-week accelerator for early-stage startups and builds partnerships with local government and non-government entities to drive systemic change. Founded in 2016, DivInc has supported 73 companies, and is headquartered in Austin, TX, with the second location in Houston that opened in spring 2021. Learn more at https://www.divinc.org/.
About Bank of America:
At Bank of America, we’re guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We’re delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It’s demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Learn more at about.bankofamerica.com, and connect with us on Twitter (@BofA_News).
