We have BIG news to share!

We’re excited to announce DivInc is partnering with Notley Ventures to extend our accelerator platform and community programming to even more entrepreneurial women and people of color, both in Austin and eventually, other cities around the country.

As part of this news, we’re proud to say Notley has made a significant philanthropic investment in DivInc. This transformative gift provides us with the resources to grow our capacity and capability, expand our accelerator programming and scale our community impact.

Through educational events, programs and focused initiatives, Notley is creating a national social innovation ecosystem where novel approaches give rise to more purposeful and profitable outcomes. They aim to affect change at the systemic level, not just nonprofit-by-nonprofit or cause-by-cause, but as an ecosystem.

As part of this partnership, we will open an office at Relay Coworking at the Center for Social Innovation. We’ll also be utilizing Notley’s wraparound services, including but not limited to Notley’s shared finance, operations, marketing and fundraising talent.

Our goal is not only to significantly increase the number of successful underrepresented founders , but we want to transform startup ecosystems to be more authentically inclusive and equitable.  We’re also thrilled about major synergy with other Notley partner programs like Women@Austin, Student Inc, as well as Huston-Tillotson University’s Entrepreneurship Center.

We want to  acknowledge Josh Baer and the entire Capital Factory team and thank them for graciously supporting us over the last year and a half. We’re grateful for the partnership and support of Capital Factory, and truly look forward to continuing our partnership and collaboration with them. Thank you, Capital Factory!

Our “Why” at DivInc

As you know, February is Black History Month and International Women’s Day is around the corner on March 8th. The kickoff of this next phase of growth for Divinc couldn’t be more well-timed.

Prior efforts to address economic segregation and racial inequality have understandably emphasized raising the floor. Now it’s time to remove the ceiling, for everyone. Our intensive 12-week curriculum empowers entrepreneurs to imagine, plan, and execute venture opportunities of the highest caliber.

By building successful high-growth companies, we can disproportionately influence the economic, political and social development of communities nationwide. Together, DivInc’s alumni and advisor network of founders, funders, and executives are working to change the face of entrepreneurship, one venture at a time.

Most net new jobs in the U.S. are created by new and young companies. Yet, research shows the playing field is not level, and certain demographic groups face more significant and persistent barriers to building successful entrepreneurial ventures, especially in the technology industry.  

There are major gaps in economic opportunity for women, people of color and immigrants. These gaps are largely due to an opportunity and empowerment divide in our nation.

According to most recent census data, of the almost 3 million African American owned businesses, 96% are sole proprietorships. Similarly, 91% of the 3.3 million Hispanic owned businesses in the U.S. employ only one person.

If African American and Hispanic owned business were to achieve parity with non-minority companies, by building scalable, high growth businesses, it is estimated they would generate 5.9M new jobs and $871B in revenue for the US economy.

Similarly, women represent approximately 51% of the U.S. population, but just 2.7% of companies with a women CEO receive venture capital, with 0.2% going to African American women, despite the fact that they are the fastest growing entrepreneurial segment.

Please Join Us at Champions of Change

We’d love the opportunity to celebrate our new partnership with Notley with you, along with some of the most tireless advocates and leaders in Austin.

We’re super excited about our inaugural Champions of Change Awards, which takes place on Friday evening, March 1 at City Hall, starting at 6:00 pm.

This special event recognizes individuals who hold diversity as a core value and  work to make Austin a truly inclusive community. We like to say that Champions of Change is Austin’s “Oscars of DEI.”

A selection committee, made up of diverse and distinguished leaders and influencers in Austin, have selected winners for the following categories:

Executive of the Year

D&I Leader of the Year

Program of the Year

Champion of the Year

Investor of the Year

Rising Star of the Year

Non-Profit Leader of the Year

Our sponsors include: Wild Basin Investments LLC, Brown Advisory, TrendKite, JP Morgan Chase, Vela Wood, Jackson Walker, UFCU, Downtown Austin Alliance, Culturati Summit, Cirrus Logic, Adventum Fund, Brown Distributing Co., Austin Java and Richard's Rainwater.

Our community partners include Huston-Tillotson University, UT’s Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship and BLNDED Media.