Inside the effort to turn startups into zebras, not unicorns
The priorities of venture capitalists don’t always align with those of startup founders and their workers.
That’s why we’ve started to see more conversation and activity around cooperatives and the idea of Exiting to Community, spearheaded by Nathan Schneider, a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Where startups can hit a roadblock, however, is around funding. Because there are fewer financial incentives for investors to fund startups that are less focused on more traditional exit routes of either selling or going public, it can be hard to attract investors. Zebras Unite, a movement and collective that formed back in 2017, is hoping to fill that need for startups.
Zebras Unite, which is on track to becoming a cooperative this year, is focused on startups that build businesses that approach issues from a social impact lens while also generating revenue. Last month, Zebras Unite announced plans to launch a fund to support underrepresented founders. The fund, which is looking to start raising money from aligned investors later this year, will be run by the co-op’s first commercial venture, Zebras Unite Capital. In partnership with SecondMuse Capital, Zebras Unite Capital will offer affordable debt and equity. As the fund invests in co-op members, those profits will be returned to the co-op and its members.
“The flawed model of venture capital has to do with the fact that only accredited investors can participate,” Zebras Unite co-founder board member Mara Zepeda tells TechCrunch. “Accredited investors are simply perpetuating the concentration of wealth, and what it really comes down to is a lack of diversity on cap tables because wealthy investors can just continue investing. That means it’s really difficult for others to break in.”
The priorities of venture capitalists don’t always align with those of startup founders and their workers. That’s why we’ve started to see more conversation and activity around cooperatives and the idea of Exiting to Community, spearheaded by Nathan Schneider, a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder.…
Recent Posts
- Why is Windows 11 so got dang annoying?
- AMD teams up with Arm to unveil AI chip family that does preprocessing, inference and postprocessing on one silicon — but you will have to wait more than 12 months to get actual products
- The US takes another big step towards banning TikTok – here’s what you need to know
- Olive Union Olive Max Hearing Aids: For Mild Hearing Loss
- What Is 5G Home Internet? Here’s Everything You Need to Know (2024)
Archives
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011