Name: 2025 Black New Venture Competition
Start: 2025-02-08T08:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-02-08T17:00:00-05:00
Location: Harvard Business School

2025 Black New Venture Competition

Hosted by the African American Student Union & Black Investment Club

at Harvard Business School

Apply Now!

Startup winners receive more than $200k

in non-dilutive capital

Applications close on Monday, November 11th, 2024 at 11:59pm ET

The Black New Venture Competition (BNVC) connects promising early-stage Black founders with resources to develop their ventures into dynamic powerhouses. The competition serves as a launching pad for innovative ventures by providing exposure to capital, mentors, and advisors.

Previous winners have gone on to raise more than $20 million in venture funding and have been accepted into prestigious accelerators (Y Combinator, Techstars).

Founders will have the opportunity to pitch their ventures to a panel of esteemed judges and compete for a chance to win more than $200K of total prize money. There are two competition tracks: one for pre-revenue ventures and another for revenue-generating ventures.

Who Should Apply?

• Self-identified Black founder, co-founder, or other member of C-suite.

• Proven minimum viable product

• Early Stage (Pre-seed – Seed)

• Less than 5 years in operation

• Raised less than $500,000 in funding to date

• Not a recipient of previous funding from BNVC or Google for Startups, Black Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Thrive, Khosla Ventures, Launch with GS, Citi Impact Fund, and Rough Draft Ventures

• Open to startups from all industries

• International startups also welcome to apply!

Non-dilutive capital

Winners will receive $275k in meaningful capital to achieve their startup dreams without sacrificing any ownership

Access to investors

Semi-finalists and finalists are invited to a private investor speed networking event with angel investors and our VC sponsors (Google for Startups, General Catalyst, Khosla, Thrive, Launch with GS, Citi Impact Fund)

Community & education

BNVC alumni will benefit from a strong community of promising black founders and tactical resources to drive startup success beyond the pitch competition

WHO SHOULD APPLY?

The competition is open to entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to today’s toughest problems.

Entrepreneurs with ventures that meet the following criteria are encouraged to apply:

- Self-identified Black founder, co-founder, or other member of C-suite.
- Proven minimum viable product
- Early Stage (Pre-seed – Seed)
- Less than 5 years in operation
- Raised less than $500,000 in funding to date

-Not a recipient of any previous funding from sponsors

WINNERS WILL ALSO

RECEIVE ACCESS TO:

Community & Education:

BNVC alumni will benefit from a strong community of promising black founders and tactical resources to drive startup success beyond the pitch competition

Access To Investors:

Semi-finalists and finalists are invited to a private investor speed networking event with angel investors and our VC sponsors (Google for Startups, General Catalyst, Khosla, Thrive, Launch with GS, Citi Impact Fund)

TIMELINE:

Semi-finalists and finalists are invited to a private investor speed networking event with angel investors and our VC sponsors (Google for Startups, General Catalyst, Khosla, Thrive, Launch with GS, Citi Impact Fund)

Applications open NOW

*January 9th 2022: Applications close

*Late January: BNVC semi-finalists announced
*Early February: BNVC semi-finals (closed session)
*February 18th 2022: BNVC finals (open session to public; hosted virtually)

WHO SHOULD APPLY

TO THE BLACK NEW VENTURE COMPETITION?

The competition is open to entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to today’s toughest problems. Entrepreneurs with ventures that meet the following criteria are encouraged to apply:

- Self-identified Black founder or co-founder
- Proven minimum viable product
- Early Stage (Pre-seed – Seed)
- Less than 5 years in operation
- Raised less than $500,000 in funding to date

- Not a recipient of any previous funding from sponsors

WINNERS WILL ALSO

RECEIVE ACCESS TO:

Community & Engagement:

BNVC alumni will benefit from a strong community of promising black founders and tactical resources to drive startup success beyond the pitch competition, including support from Goodie Nation.

Access to Investors:

Semi-finalists and finalists are invited to a private investor speed networking event with angel investors and our VC sponsors.

*NEW THIS YEAR* VC Mentorship & HBS Resources

This year, BNVC Semifinalists will gain access to mentorship from established Venture Capitalists and educational programming from HBS faculty focused on presentation skills, networking, and mastering the founder journey.

Text Block #3

Clear your calendar - It's going down! You're invited to take part in the festivities. Come one, come all, bring a guest, and hang loose. This is going to be epic!

TIMELINE:

*Applications open NOW

*January 9th 2022: Applications close

*Late January: BNVC semi-finalists announced
*Early February: BNVC semi-finals (closed session)
*February 18th 2022: BNVC finals (open session to public; hosted virtually)

The Process

1

Application Round

Hundreds of black-founded startups around the country will submit an application to the Black New Venture Competition. There will be two tracks - one for pre-revenue companies and one for revenue-generating companies that have raised less than $500K to-date.

2

Semifinal Round

After careful consideration, 20 teams will advance to the Semifinal Round, where they will deliver their pitches in front of a panel of established VCs. Those VCs will then select five finalists for the pre-revenue track and five finalists for the revenue track.

3

Final Round

In the final round, all finalists will travel to Harvard Business School during the African American Student Association Conference to pitch their startups to a new panel of VC judges and a live audience filled with conference attendees. Winners will be chosen that day.

Past Black New Venture Competition Winners

Khadesha Okwudili

Founder, AGAPE | BNVC'21

YC S21, Investments From
Harlem Capital & Squire Founders

Crystal Adesanya

Founder, Kiira Health | BNVC'20

Investments From 500 Startups & Serena Ventures, Forbes 30U30

Sam Baddoo

Founder, Fleri | BNVC'21

TechStars '21

Yinka Ogunbiyi

Founder, HaloBraid | BNVC'23

RareBreed Ventures, Harvard Innovation Launch Lab- President's Innovation Challenge 2023

Black New Venture Competition Judges-

Coming Soon!

Previous Sponsors

About 3DAYS

A Fortune 500 company, 3DAYS sets the platinum standard for engaging, media-rich mobile ads. With award-winning campaigns in video, interactive and animated content and partnerships with top-tier creative agencies across the globe, 3DAYS dominates the mobile ad solutions field and delivers effective, cost-effective solutions.

Sign up & share

Sign Me Up