Overview

Activation Capital and Opportunity Hub have joined forces to increase Black, Brown, and other minority founders' access to the technology and start-up ecosystem across Central Virginia and the Commonwealth. The organizations are building an infrastructure that will provide access to resources, training, and capital opportunities that have historically been out of reach for many entrepreneurs of color.

About this Initiative

Over the next six months, Activation Capital and OHUB will deploy components of OHUB’s platform in the region, including a launch event, startup master class for up to 100 participants, and month-long startup bootcamp for up to 50 idea stage startup companies with black and brown founders from the region, and an investor pitch event. These components will help test and evaluate a comprehensive framework that would be used to enable direct investments into entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) to deploy a culturally competent framework for minority entrepreneur development and provide administrative support to ESOs to help improve program sustainability. The partnership will leverage experts and talent pipelines from regional colleges/universities including those at Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University, University of Richmond, Virginia Union University, Randolph-Macon College, and Reynolds Community College, as well as talent pools from regional tech enterprises.

Following these events, OHUB will run a multi-day pre-accelerator for high-potential founders from the program with Lightship (formerly NewMe). Over the course of a few days, Lightship will take the selected founders through a program designed to prepare them for fundraising and customer acquisition. At its culmination, $50,000 will be invested into one select startup and introduced to OHUB’s network of early-stage accelerators and investors, including Alchemist, TechStars, 100 Black Angels & Allies Fund, Lightship Capital, Fearless Fund, 100 Black Angels & Allies, Rare Breed Ventures, MaC Ventures, and Zeal Capital Partners.

About Activation Capital

Activation Capital is a leading innovation ecosystem development organization providing social, knowledge, and financial capital to clusters, entrepreneur support organizations, and entrepreneurs – accelerating their progress through development and maturation.

An independent authority of the Commonwealth of Virginia, its mission is to grow life sciences and other advanced technology innovation by promoting scientific research, commercialization, and ecosystem development that attracts and creates 21st-century jobs and companies. It operates the 34-acre Virginia Bio+Tech Park - the hub of life science and technology innovations in Central Virginia; oversees the Cluster Accelerator for Advanced Pharmaceutical R&D and Manufacturing; and supports the development and expansion of startup ecosystem assets such as Lighthouse Labs, Startup Virginia, Dominion Energy Innovation Center, Riverflow Growth Fund and 757 Collab.  For more information, visit [http://www.activation.capital](http://www.activation.capital/).

About Opportunity Hub

Opportunity Hub was founded in 2013 as the nation’s largest Black-owned multi-campus technology, startup, and venture ecosystem building company. Today, OHUB is the parent holding company of a suite of businesses committed to increasing racial equity in the fourth industrial revolution; including a not-for-profit foundation and an ecosystem-building investment fund. Leveraging our proven, metrics-driven blueprint and methodology as outlined in “Building Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystems In Communities of Color" with The Federal Reserve Bank, OHUB delivers early exposure, skills development, job placement, entrepreneurship support programming, net new job creation, and alternative capital formation via geographically placed technology hubs, citywide communities, campus chapters, managed programs and live experiences and technology that include thousands of college students, young professionals, founders, investors and ecosystem builders throughout America and beyond. Current subsidiaries include OHUB Futures College, OHUB Talent, Equity District, Grit, DEIS, and 100 Black Angels and Allies Fund.

Meet the Speakers