Courtesy of Fisk University
āFisk University is excited to announce an innovative endowment gift fromĀ Acrew CapitalĀ and its co-founderĀ Theresia Gouw, which combines $1 million in cash with a $1million interest in Acrewās Diversify Capital Fund (āDCFā), the largest ever venture capital fund with a DEI focus (read more aboutĀ Acrewās Diversify Capital Fund in Bloomberg).
This gift is the first of its kind at Fisk University and allows the institution to, for the first time, become an institutional investor in venture capital, an asset class that has traditionally been reserved for universities with much larger-sized endowments and that has, as theĀ New York Times has reported, contributed significantly to an increase in endowments at Ivy League Schools and other elite universities.
The Acrew Capital team has built a community of nearly 500 leaders, many of whom are from diverse backgrounds, who will be helping portfolio companies recruit diverse talent and serve as strategic thought partners to their entrepreneurs. The DCF signals a uniquely innovative approach to promoting diversity amongst executive teams, corporate boards, and, importantly, in the actual underlying ownership of leading growth stage technology companies.Ā NearlyĀ 70% of DCF capitalĀ comes from diverse individuals or diverse led institutional LPs, and Acrew has donated $7 million in cash to DEI aligned organizations including Fisk.
āWe are thrilled to have Fisk University as an institutional investor in Acrew,ā said Theresia Gouw. āWe believe that the DCF is uniquely positioned to help diversify not only cap tables of leading growth companies, it also provides access and opportunities to Fisk who like many HBCUās, have not been asked to invest in venture funds before. Five of the largest publicly traded companies in the US were all venture backed tech companies. These five account for nearly 20% of the total market capitalization of all US companies. Access is critical.ā
Theresia wasĀ named toĀ Forbesā 100 Most Powerful Women list, has been recognized nine times on the Forbes Midas List, was named one of theĀ 40 Most Influential Minds in TechĀ by Time Magazine, as well as being named to the Carnegie Corporationās annualĀ Distinguished Immigrants List. She also co-foundedĀ First Close Partners, which invests globally in venture capital funds owned and operated by underrepresented venture investors.
āWe are so grateful for this generous and incredibly visionary gift,ā said Fisk President Vann Newkirk. It is also important to note that it was Fisk Trustee Ed Zimmerman, himself an investor in the Acrew fund and Theresiaāsco-founder in First Close Partners, who made this exciting connection possible. The support of Theresia and Acrew Capital, has transformed Fisk into an institutional investor in venture capital and thus, a participant in the type of transformational wealth creation that remains crucial to the future of many HBCUs. Fisk University has experienced a major upswing over the past five years, and this marks the latest in a series of promising developments highlighting the Fisk future.ā
Inspired by Theresiaās donation, Fisk Trustee, Ed Zimmerman (the partner in charge of the Tech practice at Lowenstein Sandler LLP in New York and an Adjunct Professor teaching Venture Capital at Columbia University Graduate Business School), and his wife Betsy Zimmerman (also a co-founder of First Close Partners), have donated $100,000 coupled with an interest in the Base 10 Advancement Initiative, another diversity-focused venture capital fund that is committing 50% of the fundās carried interest to be donated to HBCU endowments. The Zimmermans and Theresia are previous investors in Base10ās Advancement Initiative through their fund, First Close Partners.
AsĀ Tech Crunch reported,Ā Base10 Advancement Initiative directs āhalf the firmās profits (or ācarryā) to HBCUs to create student scholarships and support university endowmentsā¦ [noting] HBCUs confer nearly half of all STEM degrees for African-American students, says Base10, yet all 107 HBCU endowments combined are equal to just 7% of Stanfordās roughly $30 billion endowment.āĀ According toĀ Business Insider, Base10 recently becameĀ the first Black-led venture-capital firm to top $1 billion in assets.
The Zimmermans worked with founder Ade Ajao, General Partner Jamison Hill and others at Base10 to make the gift to the Fisk University endowment, to enable Fisk to both become an investor in the Base10 fund and share in the fundās ācarryā (or profits). Becoming an institutional investor in Acrewās and Base10ās funds are the first two venture capital investments Fisk has ever made or been granted.