Mendoza Ventures – a female and Latinx-founded Fintech, AI, and cybersecurity VC firm – recently announced it has launched its new non-profit, Mendoza Impact, to help fund and build the next generation of diverse founders, funders, and VC/PE fund employees.
Mendoza Impact builds cohorts of talented individuals to create micro-communities of innovation across the US. As part of the launch, Mendoza Impact brought in Jen Hartnett-Bullen as the new Executive Director to build and drive programming, and fundraising efforts, and build community across the startup ecosystem.
The inaugural diverse founder cohort includes Latino-led Straylight Systems, Black-led Goodfynd, Latina-led Wealthbuild, and Female-led EKOS.AI. And this week kicked off with an in-person event at their Boston office. Mendoza Impact will kick off a funders cohort in early 2024 for diverse emerging managers as they continue the successful diverse MBA fellows program started by Mendoza Ventures which is now in its third year.
KEY QUOTES:
“Mendoza Impact operates at the intersection of Impact and Venture capital. The goal is to use donated dollars towards investing in, growing, and developing the next generation of diverse founders, VC employees, and fund managers.”
— Jen Hartnett-Bullen, Executive Director of Mendoza Impact
“My goal is to change how capital is distributed across the tech ecosystem. Capital investment should match the makeup of its community to start creating impact for those communities.”
— Senofer Mendoza Founder of Mendoza Impact
