The 22 Fund, a Los Angeles-based impact early-growth venture fund, has announced investments totaling $7 million from the Quality Jobs Fund and the Kresge Foundation in support of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) climate-manufacturing firms.

The 22 Fund aims to create jobs in low- and moderate-income communities across the United States by investing in sustainable tech manufacturing firms led by women and BIPOC entrepreneurs. To that end, the fund will assist firms in achieving venture-type growth by scaling globally, an innovative strategy that offers portfolio diversification to investors looking for real impact with non-concessionary returns. Funding includes $5 million from the Quality Jobs Fund, which is a collaborative project of the New World Foundation and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and $2 million from Kresge.

“Closing the racial wealth gap for women of color is critical to addressing intergenerational poverty. Entrepreneurship and business ownership are demonstrated viable means to help close that gap,” said Kresge human services senior program officer Joelle-Jude Fontaine. “At the root of the challenges women of color entrepreneurs and business owners face are institutionalized gender and race-based practices and policies that create ongoing barriers to accessing capital, resources, and opportunities. The 22 Fund meets those challenges head-on, while also facing some of these same challenges as a woman of color-led fund founder and manager.”

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