Did Kobe Bryant’s $100 Million Tech Fund Capitalize Black Entrepreneurs?

The late Kobe Bryant, the former NBA MVP, announced the launch of a $100 million venture capital fund in 2016. Although the fund was quietly co-founded in 2013 with Jeff Stibel, news of the launch went public during a ceremonial ringing of the New York Stock Exchange bell.

Shortly after the ceremonial ringing, Bryant and Stibel spoke about the mission and the vision of the fund, during an exclusive interview with CNBC.”We are focused on the convergence of technology, media, and data,” Stibel notes. “We’re looking to go not just for evolutionary shifts, but revolutions. And we’re seeing a revolution right now in these spaces, as they collide together,” he concludes.

Portfolio of Investments

 

Bryant’s current portfolio of investments includes the sports media website The Players Tribune, which was recently purchased by MinuteMedia. The platform is transformative, because it presents a medium for the direct reflections, thoughts, and experiences of professional athletes.

Other notable investments include video game designer Scopely, legal services company Legal Zoom, a telemarketing-software firm called RingDNA, and a home juicing company called Juicero. Although each of these companies are interesting and game changing in their own right, what is striking is the absence of investment in any black-owned enterprises.

Struggles with Venture Funding  

 

And yet, Bryant isn’t the only venture capitalist who isn’t investing in black-owned enterprises. According to a study conducted by CB Insights, less than one percent of venture capital-backed company founders were African American. Comparatively, 83% were white and 12% were Asian.

“Venture capitalists gain the confidence to gamble on a company’s future when they see the potential for that company to succeed,” Aaron Kaufman writes. “Regrettably, it seems that there is a pervasive, systemic problem throughout the venture capitalist community, where it seems distinctly risk averse when weighing investments in companies founded by women and minorities,” he concludes.

These deeply rooted systemic perceptions in the venture capitalist community are not grounded in reality. In fact, a study published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found that minority-owned companies tend to be profitable for investors. The average return was $1.6 million for minority-owned enterprises, compared with an average investment of $562,000 per firm.

Call to Action

 

Bryant is uniquely positioned to change systemic perceptions and transform how people of color navigate in the venture capitalist community. Considering that 87% of venture capitalists are white and only four percent identify as African American and Latino, his willingness to invest in black-owned firms could propel other venture capitalists to follow suit.

The good news is that there are a variety of black-owned startups that speak to the mission and vision of Bryant’s fund, insofar as they are situated at the nexus of technology, media, and data.

For example, Blavity is a tech startup that is changing media by building the world’s largest digital community for millennials of color. Blavity was founded in 2014 with the goal of enabling millennials of color to tell their own stories. Another example is the Swat App, a data aggregator that promotes safety, accountability, and transparency by enabling users to live stream interactions with the police and file official complaints with a click of a button.

Jared Brown currently coordinates a $25 million initiative at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) designed to cultivate the next generation of African American innovators and entrepreneurs. He also serves as operations director at Black upStart, an early stage social enterprise that supports entrepreneurs through the ideation and customer validation processes. His commentary on issues related to workforce development, broadly, and black entrepreneurship, specifically, has been published by Black Enterprise, the Center for American Progress, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Twitter: @LearnedServant.

This article was originally published on August 24, 2016.

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Maryland police officer charged with murder for fatally shooting handcuffed man

A police officer in a Maryland suburb outside of Washington, D.C., is being charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a man who was handcuffed in the back seat of a patrol car.

Cpl. Michael Owen Jr. of the Prince George’s County Police Department allegedly shot suspect Michael Green, 43, seven times in Temple Hills, Md., on Monday night as Green sat in a police car, the BBC reported. Green, a father of two, was arrested after police responded to a call about a possibly intoxicated driver striking multiple cars.

READ MORE: Officer who shot video of Delonte West is now suspended from police force

The events unfolded shortly after 7 p.m. Monday evening when police received the call. They approached Green, who was in a car, handcuffed him and placed him in the front seat of a patrol car while they summoned a drug recognition expert to the scene.

Owen, a 10-year veteran of the police agency, entered the car, sat next to Green and fired off seven shots a short time later, according to the news organization. Owen’s motive is still not known, the organization reported. The police agency is in the process of equipping all of its officers with body cameras and Owen did not yet have one.

Green was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Police brass are condemning the alleged shooting.

“I have concluded that what happened last night is a crime,” the BBC reports Prince George’s County Police Chief Hank Stawinski told reporters.  “There are no circumstances under which this outcome is acceptable.”

Owen is charged with second-degree murder, voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, first-degree assault and use of a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, the BBC further reports.

It was not clear yet whether Owen has a lawyer.

The American Civil Liberties Union also condemned the incident.

“There is no reason why a handcuffed person should ever be shot multiple times by a police officer, let alone shot multiple times inside a patrol car,” Deborah Jeon, legal director of the ACLU of Maryland, said in a statement.

READ MORE: Nashville woman files $5 million federal lawsuit against former New York police officer

A Twitter user who identifies herself as Green’s cousin expressed anger and sorrow at the shooting.

“They murdered my cousin,” posted the woman identified on Twitter as Liv, @liv_03. “How do you have someone in handcuffs and in a seat belt and shoot them multiple times. All cops aren’t bad but those were. I will fight with the last breath in me for justice. William Green was a family man, a working man. Funny. Loving. Love and miss you.

They murdered my cousin. How do you have someone in handcuffs and in a seat belt and shoot them multilpe times.All cops aren’t bad but those were. I will fight with the last breath in me for justice. William Green was a family man, a working man. Funny. Loving. Love and miss you. pic.twitter.com/PhM3a6C7uj

— Liv 👸🏾 (@liv__03) January 28, 2020

The post Maryland police officer charged with murder for fatally shooting handcuffed man appeared first on TheGrio.

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The Academy Awards plan to do a special tribute for Kobe Bryant

Next month’s Academy Awards gala will include a tribute to late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash Sunday at the age of 41.

Bryant, who died with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven more people in Calabasas, Calif., will be part of the Feb. 9th ceremony’s annual “In Memoriam” montage, Variety is reporting. There also might be a separate tribute outside of the montage, sources told the news organization.

READ MORE: Before Kobe Bryant had kids, he told longtime friend Tracy McGrady he wanted to “die young”

“We can confirm that he will be acknowledged in the telecast,” a source at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences told Variety.

Bryant is no stranger to the Oscars.

The retired basketball player won a golden statue in 2018 for the film Dear Basketball in the animated short category. The film is based on a letter that Bryant wrote in 2015 announcing his retirement from basketball. Bryant wrote, executive produced and narrated the movie, which is circulating widely on the Internet since his death. Former Disney animator Glen Keane directed and applied hand-drawn animation to depict Bryant.

The New York Times reported Sunday that the two men bonded over a love of classical composer Beethoven. It was Bryant who approached Keane about working with him after seeing one of his films.

“Kobe was the most passionate man who was led by his heart and his intellect,” Keane told the news organization. “He was a great thinker with an insatiable hunger for learning: As soon as he stepped into animation, he eagerly began soaking up every aspect of it. Working with him was a dream and one of the high points of my career.”

In a moment that is now bittersweet, Bryant credited Gianna with pressing him to try his muscle as a filmmaker. He quoted his daughter as telling him, “Well, Dad, you always tell us to go after our dreams, so man up.”

Bryant spent an illustrious 20-year career with the Lakers before retiring in 2016. Since then, the former shooting guard busied himself inspiring young basketball players around the country and mentoring Gianna in the sport.

On Sunday, Bryant and his daughter were on their way to a basketball tournament in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

READ MORE: After Oscar win, Kobe Bryant wants to advocate for diversity in Hollywood

A team of federal investigators is looking into what caused the crash. The probe is expected to take months.

The beloved Los Angeles Laker, who also was memorialized at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, leaves behind wife Vanessa Laine Bryant, 37, and three surviving daughters, Natalia, 17, Bianka, 3, and Capri, 7-months-old.

The post The Academy Awards plan to do a special tribute for Kobe Bryant appeared first on TheGrio.

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Maryland Officer Charged With Murder After Shooting Handcuffed Suspect in Cruiser

To hear Prince George’s Police Chief Hank Stawinski tell it, it was a case so egregious, Prince George’s Police had to act quickly.

Read more...

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Did Kobe Bryant’s $100 Million Tech Fund Capitalize Black Entrepreneurs?

The late Kobe Bryant, the former NBA MVP, announced the launch of a $100 million venture capital fund in 2016. Although the fund was quietly co-founded in 2013 with Jeff Stibel, news of the launch went public during a ceremonial ringing of the New York Stock Exchange bell.

Shortly after the ceremonial ringing, Bryant and Stibel spoke about the mission and the vision of the fund, during an exclusive interview with CNBC.”We are focused on the convergence of technology, media, and data,” Stibel notes. “We’re looking to go not just for evolutionary shifts, but revolutions. And we’re seeing a revolution right now in these spaces, as they collide together,” he concludes.

Portfolio of Investments

 

Bryant’s current portfolio of investments includes the sports media website The Players Tribune, which was recently purchased by MinuteMedia. The platform is transformative, because it presents a medium for the direct reflections, thoughts, and experiences of professional athletes.

Other notable investments include video game designer Scopely, legal services company Legal Zoom, a telemarketing-software firm called RingDNA, and a home juicing company called Juicero. Although each of these companies are interesting and game changing in their own right, what is striking is the absence of investment in any black-owned enterprises.

Struggles with Venture Funding  

 

And yet, Bryant isn’t the only venture capitalist who isn’t investing in black-owned enterprises. According to a study conducted by CB Insights, less than one percent of venture capital-backed company founders were African American. Comparatively, 83% were white and 12% were Asian.

“Venture capitalists gain the confidence to gamble on a company’s future when they see the potential for that company to succeed,” Aaron Kaufman writes. “Regrettably, it seems that there is a pervasive, systemic problem throughout the venture capitalist community, where it seems distinctly risk averse when weighing investments in companies founded by women and minorities,” he concludes.

These deeply rooted systemic perceptions in the venture capitalist community are not grounded in reality. In fact, a study published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found that minority-owned companies tend to be profitable for investors. The average return was $1.6 million for minority-owned enterprises, compared with an average investment of $562,000 per firm.

Call to Action

 

Bryant is uniquely positioned to change systemic perceptions and transform how people of color navigate in the venture capitalist community. Considering that 87% of venture capitalists are white and only four percent identify as African American and Latino, his willingness to invest in black-owned firms could propel other venture capitalists to follow suit.

The good news is that there are a variety of black-owned startups that speak to the mission and vision of Bryant’s fund, insofar as they are situated at the nexus of technology, media, and data.

For example, Blavity is a tech startup that is changing media by building the world’s largest digital community for millennials of color. Blavity was founded in 2014 with the goal of enabling millennials of color to tell their own stories. Another example is the Swat App, a data aggregator that promotes safety, accountability, and transparency by enabling users to live stream interactions with the police and file official complaints with a click of a button.

Jared Brown currently coordinates a $25 million initiative at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) designed to cultivate the next generation of African American innovators and entrepreneurs. He also serves as operations director at Black upStart, an early stage social enterprise that supports entrepreneurs through the ideation and customer validation processes. His commentary on issues related to workforce development, broadly, and black entrepreneurship, specifically, has been published by Black Enterprise, the Center for American Progress, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Twitter: @LearnedServant.

This article was originally published on August 24, 2016.

from Black Enterprise https://ift.tt/37GqgXK