Majority-Black-run VC firm raises $110 million seed fund

Charles D. King, general partner of MaC Venture Capital, doesn’t think there’s another fund that looks like this one.

That’s because the venture capital firm is majority Black-owned. And it just announced the raising of its inaugural $110 million seed-stage fund.

In addition to King, the L.A.- and Silicon Valley-based MaC Venture Capital counts among its founding partners venture capitalist Marlon Nichols; former Washington, D.C., mayor Adrian Fenty; and Michael Palank, a former William Morris Agency talent agent and operator, adviser, and investor.

Together they’ve already invested in 25 companies, including Finesse, PureStream, and Sote. And in the past, MaC’s partners separately invested in more than 135 companies, including Gimlet Media and Walker and Co.

In a statement, the founders said they use a “cultural investment framework, using business and consumer trend research to identify companies that are leveraging shifts in culture and behavior.” MaC Venture Capital’s portfolio is global and represents a variety of industries, such as fintech, e-commerce, enterprise SaaS, aerospace, logistics, and others.

“We evaluate investments based on the merits and potential of their ideas, not just resumes, to find value in founders where others might not,” said Marlon Nichols, managing general partner, in a statement. “Not only do we have the opportunity to really change the way capital is allocated by investing in more Black and Brown founders, but we can also power companies that are closing the opportunity gap for large groups of people and create more diversity across a wide range of verticals.”

Most recent data indicates that Black founders lead only 1% of VC-backed startups and 80% of VC funds don’t have any Black investors. “We seek out founders looking to solve problems for the 99%,” the founders wrote in a blog post.