Collab Capital, which backs early-stage founders, has closed its second fund.

Collab Capital’s Mission

The venture capital firm was co-founded in 2019 by Jewel Burks Solomon, the former head of Google for Startups in the U.S., to advance innovation across work, health care, and infrastructure and invest in financial, human, and network capital, its LinkedIn mentions. The firm had previously raised $50 million in its first fund, which has enabled investments in 38 early-stage startups, including a food waste startup that is launching a “first-of-its-kind” community space in Atlanta, GA. The new Goodr Community Market at Edgewood will allow 200 families to shop for free and will give $5 deli meals to kids that visit the space with books,

$75M Raise

Collab Capital wants to further its investments in founders addressing “big, systemic problems,” according to TechCrunch. It has now closed its second fund which is valued at $75 million, with investors such as Apple, Leon Levine Foundation, California IBank, and the External Investing Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. This brings the firm’s total assets under management to $125 million, according to a news release.

“Thank you to every LP, advisor, and friend who supported us along the way. We’re just getting started,” Solomon expressed on LinkedIn.

Barry Givens, co-founder and managing partner of Collab Capital, commented in the news release:

“We believe this is the time to lean in, not pull back. Our investment partners understand that alpha lives where others aren’t looking. Fund II is designed to be a flywheel where early investment, deep founder support and long-term partnership build momentum and multiply outcomes. Jewel and I built Collab to be the firm we wish we had when we were starting out. The impact extends far beyond the companies themselves. It creates jobs, economic mobility, and generational wealth.”

Fund II will “double down” on its support to seed and Series A companies and will prioritize what it calls “the building blocks of shared prosperity”: economic mobility, healthcare access, and community infrastructure. The fund will also maintain its commitment to invest in companies that are “best equipped to solve real-world, consequential problems through unique market expertise and lived experience.”

Looking ahead, checks between $1 million and $2 million will be deployed to founders at approximately 30 companies over a five-year period. What’s more, funds have already been sent to six companies including SparkCharge, a mobile electric vehicle charging station company founded by Josh Aviv, which also received $1 million from “Shark Tank” judges Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner in 2020, as AFROTECH™ previously reported.

“Fund I showed us what’s possible when you back the right people with the right support,” Solomon mentioned in the news release. “Fund II is about scaling that belief and deepening our conviction that proximity is power and that founders closest to the problem are best positioned to solve it. We’re investing in the infrastructure of an inclusive economy, where real solutions generate real returns for our communities and for our investors.”