Are there venture funds in Atlanta run by Black investors?

ChatGPT

Yes. Atlanta has become one of the strongest hubs for Black-led venture investing, with several funds and investor groups led by Black investors or focused on backing Black founders. Some notable examples:

Collab Capital — Founded by Barry Givens, Jewel Burks Solomon, and Justin Dawkins. The fund invests in Black founders building technology and tech-enabled companies, providing financial, human, and network capital.

Goldman Sachs

Fearless Fund — Founded by Arian Simone, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Ayana Parsons. It is a women-of-color-led fund focused on investing in women of color founders at pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages. It is headquartered in Atlanta.

FEARLESS FUND

Zane Venture Fund — An Atlanta-based early-stage fund focused on diverse founders, particularly technology companies with underrepresented leadership. It was created to address funding gaps for entrepreneurs who have historically been underserved by venture capital.

AgeTech Connect

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100 Black Angels & Allies Fund — Founded by Rodney Sampson, this fund invests in Black-owned and Black-founded technology companies and works to expand Black participation in venture investing.

Caplight

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Black Star Fund — A Black-led VC firm investing primarily in Black founders. While not Atlanta-based, it is part of the broader ecosystem of Black-led venture funds that Atlanta founders may encounter.

Black Star Fund

Fictive Ventures — Connected to Atlanta’s Black founder ecosystem through investors such as…

Trimmed here; the full answer is in the viewer.

Named: Atlanta, Collab Capital, Fearless Fund, Zane Venture Fund, The Gathering Spot

Sources cited: goldmansachs.com, fearless.fund, agetechatlanta.com, caplight.com, blackstar.fund, thepitatlanta.com, theguild.community

Claude

Yes, there are several. A few notable ones based in Atlanta:

Collab Capital — founded in 2020 by Jewel Burks Solomon and Barry Givens, focused on Black-led tech founders. Its first fund closed at $62.1 million in 2021, and a second fund closed at $82 million in May 2025, bringing total assets under management to $186 million, with backers including PayPal, Truist Ventures, and Capricorn Investment Group.

SHOPPE BLACK

Fearless Fund — founded in 2019 by Arian Simone and Ayana Parsons, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on women of color-led businesses. It's been in the news since a 2023 lawsuit from the American Alliance for Equal Rights challenged one of its grant programs as racially discriminatory.

Atlanta Magazine

Hawks Ventures — a mission-driven fund tied to the Atlanta Hawks, focused on early-stage startups led by minority and underrepresented founders.

Startupatlanta

Base Ventures — a seed-stage fund investing in technology companies, founded on the idea of backing individual potential.

BAUCE

Worth noting: the broader funding picture has gotten tougher. VC funding for Black-owned businesses fell 71% nationally in 2023, and metro Atlanta saw one of the worst declines at 79%. Despite that, early-stage funding in Atlanta has been showing signs of revival, with early-stage deals making up 65% of total VC activity.

AJC

WaveUp

Want me to dig into any of these funds further — investment focus, check sizes, or how to approach them?

Named: Atlanta, Collab Capital, Fearless Fund

Sources cited: shoppeblack.us, atlantamagazine.com, guide.startupatlanta.com, baucemag.com, ajc.com, waveup.com

Gemini

Atlanta is home to a growing ecosystem of venture capital firms led and founded by Black investors, making it a prominent hub for diverse venture capital in the United States.

Shoppe Black

Prominent Atlanta-based venture funds run by Black investors include:

Collab Capital: Founded by Jewel Burks Solomon, Barry Givens, and Justin Dawes, Collab Capital provides early-stage capital and operational support specifically tailored for Black founders building high-growth tech-enabled businesses.

Failory

Fearless Fund: Headquartered in Atlanta and co-founded by Arian Simone and Ayana Parsons, Fearless Fund is a venture firm focused on investing in early-stage tech and consumer businesses founded by women of color.

www.fearless.fund

Overlooked Ventures: Led by Brandon Brooks and Janine Sickmeyer, this fund invests in early-stage tech startups founded by historically overlooked and underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Private Equity International | PEI

Additionally, Atlanta hosts strong ecosystems and organizations supporting Black investors, such as the local chapter of BLCK VC and the Black Venture Capital Consortium (BVCC), which works closely with regional VC partners and HBCUs.

www.bvcc.vc

Named: Atlanta, Collab Capital, Fearless Fund

Sources cited: shoppeblack.us, failory.com, fearless.fund, privateequityinternational.com, bvcc.vc

Perplexity

Yes. Atlanta has several venture-capital funds that are Black-led or run by Black investors, though they differ substantially in who they back, check size, and whether they are traditional institutional funds, community-investment vehicles, or grant programs.

Atlanta funds to know

Fund Black investor leadership Typical focus Notes

Collab Capital Founded and led by Barry Givens, Jewel Burks Solomon, and Justin Dawkins Black-owned, innovative businesses; capital plus operational and network support This is perhaps the clearest Atlanta-based, Black-led VC firm explicitly focused on Black founders and wealth creation. It has backed dozens of companies.

midtownatl

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Zane Venture Fund / Zane VC Founded and managed by Shila Nieves Burney Diverse and underrepresented early-stage founders; health equity and community wellbeing are prominent themes Atlanta-based, but invests nationally. Its affiliated Zane Access program provides founder and student support alongside the investment platform.

zane

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Fictive Ventures General partner Khadijah Robinson; designed to cultivate participation by Black investors Earliest-stage Black-led, tech-enabled startups Atlanta-based and intentionally structured to make venture participation more accessible to Black investors, with reported entry points as low as $10,000 for participants.

spelman

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Fearless Fund Black woman-founded and Atlanta-based Historically focused on women of color entrepreneurs, including Black women It is a major name in…

Trimmed here; the full answer is in the viewer.

Named: Atlanta, Collab Capital, Zane Venture Fund, Fearless Fund

Sources cited: bvcc.vc, ajc.com, midtownatl.com, zane.vc, hub.waveup.com, accesszane.webflow.io, spelman.edu, linkedin.com, fictiveventures.com, atlantamagazine.com, digitalundivided.com, musicbusinessworldwide.com, forbes.com, blckvc.org, vcsheet.com, waveup.com, guide.startupatlanta.com, atlantaventures.com, vip.graphics, shoppeblack.us, msn.com, startupintros.com, privateequityinternational.com, feeds.ajc.com, cpd.cau.edu, news.crunchbase.com, mg.co.za, atlantastartuppodcast.com