televëda is proud to announce our win of Startup Runway Edition #9 Community Grant Presented by American Family Insurance Institute. Judged by active venture capitalists from a variety of sectors, Startup Runway Edition #9 saw many submissions from organizations led by people of color.

Startup Runway was founded in Atlanta, created to make a space for organizations lead by unrepresented individuals. Startup Runway explains: "There were lots of pitch events for particular type of founders–African American, Latin American, LGBQT, women . . But my experience was, 'female founder pitches' and 'pitches for black founders' and so forth were often non-competitive. The hunger and ambition for excellence driving so many founders didn’t find outlets in those kinds of onramps. They were more inspirational events. Yet in traditional venture events, built by a 95% white male venture capital elite, the culture gap was just too great for founders like women, who have access to 70% of the capital men do, or for people of color. Black families on average have 1/10th the wealth of white families. For underrepresented founders, traditional investor pitch competitions are like asking startups to achieve lift-off from an untended gravel road." So, they decided to pave a runway.

Receiving this community grant has allowed televëda to continue working on their mission: to help organizations create, build, and grow safe and accessible virtual programs that reduce social isolation and promote healthy living.

A special thanks to both Startup Runway, the judge, and the American Family Insurance Institute for making this all possible! For a video of the pitch, check out this link here.

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