Black Star Fund

Great News to Share! Black Star Fund portfolio company, Acclinate just closed $7M Series A! Congratulations to Co-Founders Del Smith, PhD and Tiffany Whitlow! Proud day for Birmingham, Alabama! Learn more about Acclinate and the recent funding close here: https://lnkd.in/gxwYFw7R #blackstarfund #acclinate #Bham

Just Wow! Denise Woodard, CEO of Partake Foods at the partnership announcement with the Phoenix Mercury yesterday in Phoenix! Black Star Fund Partake Foods Cleveland Avenue Phoenix Mercury #womenssports #womenfounders #wnba

Black Star Fund history was made last night on Shark Tank ABC! Black Star Fund portfolio founder Dawn Myers won a deal with TWO SHARKS!!! Mark Cuban and Emma Grede are now officially investors in Dawn’s company Richualist!!! Black Star Fund was Dawn’s very first institutional investor. I actually met Dawn on Clubhouse during the pandemic and knew right away she was destined for entrepreneurial greatness! To make all of this that much more awe inspiring, last year Dawn was diagnosed with colon cancer…she opted to battle the potentially deadly disease while fighting to keep her company alive. By the end of the year, she was cancer free and made it on Shark Tank! Last night, the world was able to witness grace, power, faith and uncompromising tenacity in action! Congratulations Dawn for this amazing achievement! Congratulations and welcome Mark & Emma to Richualist investor family! We honored to have you and walk alongside you as you take Dawn and her company to heights that only you two can! Please support Dawn and her company here by becoming a customer and a partner by clicking here: https://richualist.com To watch the entire episode of Shark Tank, click here: https://lnkd.in/gU9cm222 Shout out to our other partner investors who saw, believed and invested when most made up reasons not to: Conscious Venture Partners Melissa Bradley 1863™ Ventures Dow Venture Capital

When your buddy the Lt Governor of Michigan, Garlin Gilchrist II invites you as his guest to an event at SXSW, you show up! Phenomenal time hanging with this crew - The Honorable Lt. Governor Gilchrist, Dug Song an Icon in the Investing & Entrepreneurial World and my mentee Ollie Howie of New Community Transformation Fund in Grand Rapids which I co-founded and serve on the Board of Directors. This event was the Black & Brown Founders Brunch hosted at the Midwest House and shot me back to my Ohio roots! Beautifully curated event with great people, great conversations and great food!

Great time judging the Entertainment, Media & Content Pitch Competition at SXSW in Austin, Texas this weekend! My esteemed fellow judges included: Katherine Rice - Partner, GingerBread Capital; Jett Fein - General Partner, Headline; Ollie Howie - Managing Director, New Community Transformation Fund; and Becky Center - CEO, Indiegogo. Our event was sponsored by KPMG. Congratulations to OPUS who won both our category and BEST IN SHOW out of 45 Companies! Congratulations to all of the other winners and finalists! The competition was fierce judging from what I saw the future is incredibly bright! Thank you, Chris Valentine & Team SXSW for the gracious invite and running a first class operation! #blackstarfund #sxsw2024 #kpmg

Sharing the Black Star Fund story in São Paulo, Brazil! 🇧🇷 What an amazing time yesterday speaking to over two dozen phenomenal attorneys at KLA Advogados at their headquarters in São Paulo! I have to say it was one of the highlights of my life to see how our work with Black Star Fund is inspiring young law professionals as far away as Brazil! Thank you to my friend, Laura Cossi, for your gracious invitation and a great lunch! (Fun backstory: I met Laura when I was guest lecturing at Gordon Davidson’s Venture Class at Stanford Law School!) Also, Big THANK YOU to Founding Partner at KLA, Karin Alvo, for your incredibly warm hospitality in welcoming me to your firm and incredible city! I’ll be back soon! 🙏🏾❤️🇧🇷