Black Girl Ventures’ pitch competition is coming to New York

Black Girl Ventures (BGV) is bringing its crowdfunded pitch competition to New York City on November 7.

The event, led by BGV founder Omi Bell, is part of the organization’s efforts to boost entrepreneurship efforts for Black women in the business world. The BGV Pitch Competition combines traditional pitching with crowdfunding, allowing the public to “vote with their dollars.” The organization is soliciting donations through its Raisify platform. Every founder will do that give a three-minute presentation followed by a two-minute question and answer session. The winner will be determined based on the number of contributions received from the public, rather than evaluations by investor panels.

The upcoming competition will take place at The Mezzanine in Manhattan’s Financial District. More than a dozen women entrepreneurs of color are expects to pitch. Entrepreneurial sectors range from technology to wellness and consumer goods.

“We created this because women and people of color receive less than one percent of venture capital funding,” Bell said Amsterdam News. “Our work is about building capacity and creating a sustainable community around that financing.”

Participants in the New York event must be female entrepreneurs who generate income and meet BGV’s criteria for insufficient resources. Finalists will gain access to the organization’s alumni ecosystem, which provides ongoing access to networking opportunities, financial coaching and brand-building support.

According to the Black Girl Ventures website, since its founding in 2016, the organization has fmore than 450 founders. Additionally, their work has supported more than 10,000 entrepreneurs across the country through mentoring, accelerator programs and workshops. The pitch model – in which ordinary supporters contribute small amounts – has been adopted in cities such as Chicago, Austin and Los Angeles.

The timing of the New York launch coincides with increased national attention on equity-focused entrepreneurship. Reports from Crunchbase and the National Venture Capital Association show that Black female founders still receive less than 1% of total venture capital funding, a figure that Bell says “must be reversed through community-driven solutions, not by waiting for gatekeepers.”

The transparency of the pitch format makes it powerful, according to Bell.

“When people invest in the public, they’re not just financing a company,” she said. “They are joining an ecosystem that believes in collaboration over competition.”

RELATED CONTENT: The Fearless Fund reemerges after the anti-DEI settlement and goes global