{"id":28653,"date":"2026-03-24T18:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=28653"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:35:14","slug":"bkr-capital-raises-14-5m-so-far-to-invest-in-black-founders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=28653","title":{"rendered":"BKR Capital raises $14.5M (so far) to invest in Black founders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Canada\u2019s BKR Capital <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newswire.ca\/news-releases\/bkr-capital-announces-the-first-close-for-its-50m-fund-ii-after-top-quartile-performance-of-debut-fund-814741846.html\">announced Monday <\/a>that its Fund II has closed $20 million CAD (around $14.5 million USD), bringing it closer to its $50 million CAD target.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This fund is looking to back \u201chigh-growth technology companies led by founders from the Black community, building solutions for the future of work, living, and global connectivity,\u201d managing partner Lise Birikundavyi told TechCrunch. The firm is mainly looking at Canada, though is open to backing select companies globally. The average check size will be between $250,000 to $1.5 million, she said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Birikundavyi said that almost 70% of the Black population in Canada is first or second-generation immigrants, \u201cresulting in founders who build globally from day one, unlocking early access to international markets and creating a structural advantage in scaling.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Though many U.S. firms have shied away from openly advertising a mission that could be perceived as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Birikundavyi said her Toronto-based fund doesn\u2019t share those exact fears. What\u2019s happening in Canada is less of a DEI rollback and more of a reframing, she said, where investors are \u201cprioritizing discussion on performance,\u201d even though \u201cthe underlying opportunity remains unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She added, \u201cExpanding access to overlooked founders continues to surface high-quality deals, making this less about DEI and more about arbitrage investing.\u201d She believes investors in Canada still see \u201cinclusive investment\u201d as good for the ecosystem and full of potentially lucrative business opportunities. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The firm\u2019s thesis is rooted in the belief that \u201coverlooked markets and diverse lived experiences can unlock outsized venture opportunities,\u201d Birikundavyi said. The firm launched in 2021 and raised $22 million for its Fund I (which Birikundavyi said is performing better than at least 75% of the other funds launched around the same time). She said BKR Capital hopes to make its final close for Fund II in December and invest in 25 companies.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-techcrunch-inline-cta\">\n<div class=\"inline-cta__wrapper\">\n<p>Techcrunch event<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-cta__content\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__location\">San Francisco, CA<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__date\">October 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/03\/24\/bkr-capital-raises-14-5m-so-far-to-invest-in-black-founders\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canada\u2019s BKR Capital announced&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[249],"tags":[826,2750,2127],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28653"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}