HBCU Alumni Launch KINETIC to Fund Black Startups, Host Free Virtual Conference April 10 with Celebrity Invest
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Posted By: Reginald Culpepper on April 07, 2021 By Jacinta Howard Kevin D. Johnson, a graduate of Morehouse College and a founder of a few tech companies, launches KINETIC. KINETIC is an online platform that helps entrepreneurs find, receive, and learn about funding, from early-stage bootstrapping to late-stage venture capital and everything in-between. Johnson, a graduate student at MIT’s Sloan School of Management who also takes classes at Harvard Business School, studied extensive research that indicates that when diverse startups have access to funding, they excel more than non-diverse groups. Two of KINETIC’s four advisory board members are HBCU alumni. Ambassador Andrew Young, who is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. congressman, and civil rights activist, is an alumnus of Howard University. John Thompson, chairman of Microsoft, is an alumnus of Florida A&M University. Also, Hakeem “Chamillionaire” Seriki, CEO of Convoz and investor, is an advisory board member. KINETIC’s upcoming first annual conference, KINETIC-CON, will take place virtually on April 10, 2021, and is themed “Funding Matters.” It will host over 1,000 entrepreneurs and investors. The free conference has an all-star speaker lineup, including a senior associate of Serena Williams’s venture firm and an investor in Tyra Bank’s company, SMiZE. The event is sponsored by Microsoft, the Kauffman Foundation, Experian, Valence, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund Program. KINETIC-CON aims to facilitate discussions about funding to help entrepreneurs and funders create a better and more efficient entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially one that benefits entrepreneurs of color. To register for KINETIC-CON and learn more about KINETIC, visit https://tinyurl.com/kineticcon. If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Reginald Culpepper
President, Fulfillment and Web Services, HBCUCONNECT Clark Atlanta University class of 1998 Member Since September 2000 |
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