The future of tech will include more of us than ever before. Though overall representation of Black professionals, founders, and operators in tech is stagnant, our footprint on the evolution of the industry grows year after year.
We’re excited to host a conversation between two VC powerhouses, Monique Woodard and Ade Ajao. Together they have over 30 years of experience launching, selling, and investing in successful startups. Recently they’ve been featured in Business Insider, TechCrunch, and Bloomberg speaking out about overcoming systematic bias in VC.
The conversation will cover all corners of Venture given the wealth of funding and operating experience of our panelists. Send us any questions you'd like us to ask during the discussion.
Monique is founder of Cake Ventures which invests in companies at the intersection of technology and newly powerful consumer groups. Her investments as a venture capital and angel investor include Blavity, Court Buddy, Mented Cosmetics, Silvernest, and many others. Prior to Cake, she was the first African American partner at 500Startups and mentored countless Black entrepreneurs through founding Black Founders, an organization dedicated to creating an inclusive community for startup founders.
Ade is managing partner at Base10, which focuses on the automation economy and recently raised 250 million to fuel their second fund. In June, Base10 - along with a consortium of funds - made a public pledge to diversify their firm and the founders they fund. Ade started his career by building Tuenti, a Spanish social network he started with his college roommates, which he sold for 100 million dollars. Since, he has as continued to launch companies that have successfully raised 250+ million in venture funding.
