The Schultz Family Foundation has announced an initial $100 million commitment to launch a fund that will provide underrepresented entrepreneurs with access to non-predatory capital.

The Entrepreneurs Equity Fund will work to accelerate the growth of high-potential, diverse-owned businesses and underrepresented entrepreneurs by making direct equity investments and increasing their access to capital, including revenue-based financing and low-cost working capital. In addition, the fund will underwrite grants designed to improve business operations through training, executive mentoring, data collection, research, and policy development.

According to the foundation, data suggests that strengthening emerging, high-potential businesses led by diverse founders to become middle-market companies has the potential to increase economic and social outcomes for historically disadvantaged communities.

“America’s future rests on our entrepreneurial fire. But in recent years, the spark within many entrepreneurs has struggled to find the oxygen to burn bright. The causes are many: predatory practices, lack of access to capital and social networks, the need for learning and community, and the systemic failures that lead some to not even try,” said Howard Schultz, Schultz Family Foundation co-founder and Starbucks interim CEO. “For too many people today, the American dream feels out of reach. I find this to be unacceptable, which is why we are launching this fund to invest in diverse businesses that have unfairly been excluded from opportunity for too long despite their enormous potential to help rebuild our country.”

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