PayPal invests 50 mn in Black & Latinx-Led early-stage venture capital funds

By Pavithra R

PayPal Holding has announced that the firm will invest 50 mn in 8 early-stage, Black and Latinx-led venture capital funds: Fearless Fund; Harlem Capital; Precursor Ventures; Slauson & Co.; VamosVentures; Chingona Ventures; Zeal Capital Partners; and one additional fund.

The investment is part of PayPal’s commitment to invest $530 mn to support Black-owned businesses, strengthen under-represented minority communities and fight for racial equity and economic equality.

“Black and Latinx founders have been underrepresented in venture capital funding for far too long. By directing our dollars to investors from underrepresented communities, we’re supporting their investment in Black and Latinx entrepreneurs at the earliest stages. We’re honored to support this outstanding group of venture capitalists as we seek to bring more equity to the fundraising process,” said Dan Schulman, president and CEO, PayPal.

PayPal will work collaboratively with these early-stage venture capital funds and, in certain cases, invest directly in businesses through PayPal Ventures, its venture capital arm. PayPal Ventures invests in series A through later funding rounds of startups in areas of strategic relevance to PayPal, including payments infrastructure, financial services, and commerce enablement. The firm will also begin offering a 3-month fellowship to a Black or Latinx graduate student each semester, through which the PayPal Ventures team will provide training, coaching, and mentoring.

In August, PayPal completed the distribution of $10 mn in empowerment grants to Black-owned SMBs to help them stabilize and reopen during the COVID-19. In September, the firm awarded approx. $5mn in grants to 20 nonprofit community partners to support Black-owned businesses across the U.S. in their recovery from the impact of the pandemic. It also announced a $50 mn deposit in Optus Bank, a Black-owned bank dedicated to providing equal access to capital and financial services for minority communities, as part of an initiative to make deposits in Black- and minority-owned financial institutions.

Recently PayPal announced enabling cryptocurrency holdings as a funding source for digital commerce.

Established since 1998, PayPal is an American company operating a worldwide online payments system that supports online money transfers and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods like checks and money orders. The company has remained at the forefront of the digital payment revolution for more than 20 years.