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March 24, 2023
As part of its inclusion work, the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks have launched a mission-driven venture fund focused on supporting minority and women-led/underrepresented startups and businesses. Hawks Ventures will invest $50 million in early stage and customer-focused businesses over the next five years “to transform the way a product or service is experienced’.
Venture capital (VC) is an essential source of early-stage financing for startups, which the fund states is an important contribution to business owned by women and ethnic minorities who often face difficulties in obtaining financing through traditional channels. In the VC arena, only 1.9% of women-only teams seeking VC investments got funded in 2022, compared to around 80.9% of men-only teams. Ethnic minority entrepreneurs fair considerably worse, with 67% of capitalists saying it wasn’t a priority to invest in multicultural business owners and Black businesses receiving only 1.2% of all VC (2018).
The initiative is a continuation of the team’s efforts to support the economic empowerment of locally underrepresented communities. In 2021, the Hawks made a historic agreement with Black-owned banks to refinance a $35 million loan for a new sports facility, and in 2020, Principal Owner and Board Chair, Tony Ressler committed $40 million to multiple Black and minority entrepreneurial efforts.
Hawks Ventures intends to be about more than just financial support with the intent to also leverage its experience in customer service, its vast network and resources to help founders achieve their goals. The fund will also find strategic investments that will benefit the team and/or State Farm Arena businesses.
The initiative will be led by David Garcia, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Innovation and Investments. Garcia played a pivotal role in transforming the guest experience at State Farm Arena, securing the top ranking in overall game experience and supporting efforts that steered the Arena to become the largest voting precinct in Georgia history for the 2020 election.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to lead this initiative and to be able to meaningfully contribute to driving economic empowerment in underrepresented communities. With the experience economy being a driving force of so much business value and our focus on diversity and inclusion, we believe there will be no shortage of great ideas and founders to invest in,” he stated.
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