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MaC Venture Capital, a newly merged, majority Black-led investment firm that on Thursday raised an inaugural $110 million to double down on supporting overlooked tech startups on the brink of disruption, with participation from companies including Foot Locker, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Howard University.

Forget Austin and Miami - Tulsa is poised to emerge as an underdog for one of the U.S’s next big startup cities. In a state historically known for its deep roots in the oil, gas, and farming sectors, part of Tulsa Remote’s goal is to bring the city and its economy out of the last century and into the future.

Open since January 2020, Holberton School Tulsa is a two-year software engineering program based at 15 N. Cheyenne Ave.

Tulsa is paying people $10,000 to live there. 4 professionals who recently made the move from big cities like NY and Chicago say it's the best decision they ever made.

In this episode, we talk with Cioré Taylor, the director of entrepreneurial development and education at TEDC Creative Capital.

Gathering Place has been voted this year’s Best City Park in the country in a readers’ choice competition sponsored by the national media company USA Today.

A Crunchbase survey of rounds of $100 million or more to U.S. companies at Series A and B stage between January and mid-February found that 30 percent of these investments went to teams with female or Black founders.

If you want to live in a vibrant, large city without the price tag of places like New York of Frisco, you will be pleasantly surprised by Tulsa.

A Kansas City-generated gamified math education platform is expanding its user base this weekend as Boddle Learning debuts the high-profile startup’s long-awaited iOS app version.

As NYC and San Francisco continue to bleed business, the Sooner state emerges as a prime landing spot for one of the Israeli tech ecosystem's most accelerated sectors.

Ugandan-born Martinson co-founded Boddle Learning, a game-based learning platform, in 2018 to combat educational gaps and help improve student outcomes in elementary schools.

In this episode, we talk with Cecilia Wessinger, an ecosystem builder, community catalyst and collaborator.

It’s no secret that 2020 has been a challenging year. The ways we live, travel, and do business have been totally transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, as I reflect on the year, my biggest takeaway is one of gratitude.

In Episode 2 of Season 2 of the podcast Be Atento, hosts Sean and Aaron are joined by Michael Basch, Managing Partner and Founder of Atento Capital.

In the Season 2 premiere, our new hosts Aaron and Sean talk to Chandler Malone, former host of this podcast and founder of the Ideate Project.

The Be Atento Podcast shares some of the highlights of the amazing interviews we have done so far.

In this episode we talk with Dylan Gambardella, Co-founder of Next Gen HQ.

In this episode we talk with Ryan Lupberger, Co-Founder and CEO of Atento Capital portfolio company, Cleancult.

In this episode we talk with Atento’s most recent investment, Edna Martinson and Clarence Tan, the co-founders of Boddle Learning.

Cincinnati-based Lightship Capital, a rare venture-capital firm managed by black partners, is raising a $50 million fund to invest in underrepresented founders in the Midwest.

Foundry College Tulsa is offering free tuition for Tulsans experiencing unemployment, underemployment or looking to advance their career opportunities.

In this episode we talk with Martin Lien, CEO of Respond Flow.

I had the pleasure to meet Arlan and hear from her on topics ranging from founder self-care to allyship in VC to the decentralization of Silicon Valley.

Many of my Non-Black friends and colleagues have asked how I am doing, what I make of the recent events and what they can do to support as allies. Below is my candid and transparent attempt at answering those questions.

In this episode we talk with Mercedes Bent, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.

At Harlem Capital, one of our slogans is “Data Drives Decisions.”

Edtech startup incubators? That’s so 2010. That’s the conclusion reached by Barbara (“Bobbi”) Kurshan, a long-time veteran of the education technology world.

After major companies announce their employees won’t need to come in, many are recalculating the cost of living near the office.

As part of their post-Covid economic strategy, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona are stepping up cooperation with Israeli companies.

#BeAtento

The leaders changing the culture of innovation in 2020.

It's called the Tulsa Responds Task Force. It's a partnership with the Tulsa Economic Development Corporation, the City of Tulsa, George Kaiser Family Foundation, Tulsa Community Foundation and Atento Capitol. The goal is to get Tulsa small businesses and nonprofits back on their feet by helping them apply for the loan programs available in response to COVID-19.

It used to be that the only way for humanity to grow — and progress — was through destroying the environment. Sure, the Industrial Revolution brought about the growth of our economies, our population, our prosperity; but it also led to our extracting more resources from the planet, more pollution, and some nightmarish human conditions as well. But is this interplay between the two — of human growth vs. environment, of protection vs. destruction — really a zero-sum game?

As we kick off a new decade, Crunchbase and Dundee Venture Capital are launching the first America’s Mighty Middle Report to look at startup activity in locations between the U.S. coasts over the past 10 years.

Reviewing Techstars applications from around the world is an amazing way to surface micro trends while also seeing the macro picture. And since my applications were open January-April, it’s been fascinating to see how founders responded and pivoted in the current environment.

Early Childhood Education and K12 This is the first of two posts on the future of education after the onset of Covid-19 by Mercedes Bent, Partner at LightSpeed Ventures

Higher Ed, Corporate Learning & Career Mobility

Why venture capitalists are missing out on the opportunity to invest in diverse entrepreneurs, how it’s hurting their returns, and what to do about it.

Startups with ethnically diverse founders are eventually able to raise more operating cash and return more capital to investors than those formed by all-white executives, even as they were less likely to win funding in the first place, a study shows.

Venture capitalists are constantly telling the entrepreneurs they invest in to make data-driven decisions. But as an industry, we haven’t been very good at doing it ourselves. Now that we have the analytics and numbers to take a closer look at ourselves and our business, we decided to give it a try.

In the second episode of our Investor Series, Michael Basch, the Managing Director of Atento Capital, helps us unpack considerations Heartland entrepreneurs should take into account as they face the aftermath of COVID-19.

In this episode we talk with Erika Lucas, co-founder of StitchCrew.

Or as it’s known in certain circles, “The Paris of the Heartland.”

In this episode we talk with Dor Abuhasira, CEO and co-founder of Percepto.

In this episode we talk with Marlon Nichols, founder and Managing Partner of MaC Venture Capital.

In this episode we talk with Rodney Sampson, Founder and CEO of Opportunity Hub.

In this episode we talk with Michael Cardamone, CEO and Managing Partner of Acceleprise about how he evaluates early stage deals and what he looks for in founding teams.

In this episode we talk with Adrianne Court, Chief HR Officer at Alkami.

In our inaugural episode we talk with Anna Mason, Partner at Revolution Capital and the Rise of the Rest seed fund.

Meet the team at Atento Capital and hear about the incredible guests and fascinating topics that will be addressed in future episodes.