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Leke Sholuade

Founder at Black Valley

Leke Sholuade is the founder and CEO of Black Valley, an organization dedicated to supporting Black entrepreneurs and innovators in the tech industry.2 He was inspired to create Black Valley in response to the death of George Floyd, which served as a catalyst for him to take action and address the challenges faced by Black people in society and business.1

Black Valley's Mission

Black Valley, under Leke's leadership, focuses on several key areas:

  1. Social Capital: Providing a community of successful Black founders, industry leaders, and technical experts.1
  2. Access to Funding: Connecting founders with pre-seed VCs, angel groups, and syndicates, as well as awarding grants up to £10,000 to high-potential startups.1
  3. Workshops & Resources: Equipping founders with valuable resources through bespoke mentorship, weekly workshops, and fireside chats with industry experts.1

Leke's Background and Passion

Leke Sholuade is passionate about personal development and getting the best out of himself and those around him.2 His commitment to supporting Black entrepreneurs through the Founders Programme demonstrates his dedication to community building and making a meaningful impact.3

Initiatives and Recognition

  • Leke successfully launched Black Valley Nights, a hub that connects Black founders, investors, and tech innovators.4
  • He has been recognized for his efforts to improve social mobility and accessibility in the tech industry for the Black community.7
  • Leke has also been featured in interviews discussing the challenges faced by Black entrepreneurs and the importance of diversity in tech.5

Through his work with Black Valley, Leke Sholuade aims to address biases in tech products and ensure better representation of Black talent in the industry.6

Highlights

Aug 10 · linkedin

Application for Black Valley's Founders programme closes at midnight this Sunday, and we want to make sure we get the word out about it to eligible founders.

⭐Backed by Goldman Sachs #LaunchWithGS, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (🤫Twitter & Google's lawyers) to help Black Tech Founders take their startup to the next level.

💥🚀What you get as a Black Valley Founder:

✅ Fully-Funded 8-week accelerator programme ✅ Access a community of like-minded founders: We take on the top 10 UK black founders building venture-backable businesses ✅ Access to investors & funding opportunities: 1 in 4 of our alumni secure follow on funding 🚫 We don't take any equity‼️ ✅ Exclusive Fireside Chats with people like...

📆 Tope Awotona: Founder & CEO @ Calendly 🧵Josephine Philips: Founder & CEO @ SOJO 👾 Vlad Magdalin: Co-Founder & CEO @ Webflow 🎶 Christian Facey: Founder & CEO @ Audiomob 💵 Benjamin Fernandes: Founder of @ NALA

Ready to take your startup to the next level? Apply to Black Valley's Accelerator Programme today!

https://lnkd.in/e5spx_fy

#blacktech #founders #funding #accesstocapital

Anu Panesar Abi Mohamed Ashleigh Ainsley FRSA Seven Jacobs Deborah Choi Andy Ayim MBE Andy Davis Parin Shah Clare Sutcliffe MBE Eugenie Teasley Rodney Appiah Chenelle Ansah Indie Gordon Inês Liberato Jacob George Michael Adeniya Daniel Sawko Daniel E. Daniel Glazer Deborah Okenla Aislinn Mahon Mandy Nyarko MBE Precious Oyelade Drew CurrieEzechi Britton MBE Nzube U. Raevin Walters

Nov 3 · linkedin

According to Crunchbase, Adam Neumann was given $350M investment for his idea in Q2 this year. This is more than all black founders in the US combined, who raised only $324M in the same quarter.

We continue to see that black founders are significantly underfunded.

At Black Valley we are levelling the playing field for black founders, ensuring that they get the needed access to networks, resources and venture capital.

Since July 2021, we have supported 25 black-led startups through our founders' programme, helping them achieve significant milestones for their businesses. Below are just a few examples : 💫 Bloomful and Physalis raised pre-seed rounds of £550K combined.

💫We awarded £20k worth of Black Valley grants to high-potential start-ups on our programme

💫Following the completion of our programme, our founders have received a collective total of £198,500 in external Grants.

💫REN Equipment Now received £20k of Angel investments.

💫Cloudcargo successfully exited 6 months post our programme.

💫Two of our Black Valley founders won the prestigious Innovate UK grants.

💫 Our Alumni have gone on to other great programmes, such as Google for Startups.

I am incredibly proud of the successes we have celebrated this year alone, but there is still much work to be done.

We have ambitious goals to make the start-up ecosystem a fairer and more equitable #venturecapital environment for black founders in the UK and beyond.

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favour” - Elon Musk

If you would like to partner with us on this journey, drop me a message.

#startups #founders #google #investments #startups #funding #vc #vcfunding #startupcommunity #blacktech #blackvalley #blackvalleyhq #blackfounders #angelinvestors #angelinvesting #fundraising #socialmobility

Related Questions

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Leke Sholuade
Leke Sholuade, photo 1
Leke Sholuade, photo 2
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Experience

Founder & CEO at Black Valley (August 2020 - Present)
Trustee - Finance Committee at Lench's Trust (June 2023 - Present), Chair of the Board of Trustees at Lench's Trust (May 2021 - May 2023), Strategy Consultant at Multiverse (February 2021 - April 2021 at The Challenge (November 2015 - December 2017)

Location

London Area, United Kingdom