Following closely after our Annual Zeal Summit last week, I am delighted to unveil an announcement that we have been anticipating for several months. Our unwavering commitment to championing Inclusive Investing™ has reached another pivotal milestone with the appointment of Stefanie Thomas as Managing Director. Stefanie has been operating in stealth at the helm of our pre-seed investment strategy and portfolio. Her focus is on sourcing, investing in, and scaling high-growth, early-stage tech startups across a range of sectors.
Stefanie will oversee the firm’s expanded commitment to Inclusive Investing™ under the new Barclays Black Formation Investments (BBFI) initiative, a pioneering pre-seed investment platform backed by Barclays and managed by Zeal Capital Partners. Built to propel the next generation of Black-led companies, BBFI will provide early-stage capital and support to founders building high-growth technology companies.
I have known Stefanie professionally for 15 years and she is no stranger to the world of venture investing. With almost a decade of early stage deal-making experience, from pre-seed to Series B, Stefanie brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our team. Previously, as a founding member and investor at Impact America Fund (IAF), she played a pivotal role in growing the firm from $7M to $110M AUM. Her track record speaks volumes about her commitment to driving funding to underrepresented founders and economic power into underserved communities.
We are equally excited to welcome another two dynamic professionals to the Zeal team working alongside Stefanie to bolster our efforts with BBFI and pre-seed investments.
- Richard Odior, joins us from his role as the Head of Strategic Scaled Services at Meta, where he executed vital initiatives like Meta’s $100M SMB Grant Program. He also successfully founded and managed an angel syndicate focused on diverse teams, Seneca Network. Richard's experience in supporting underserved small businesses aligns perfectly with our mission.
- Bianca Phillip, who joins us from Goldman Sachs with a strong background in finance and social entrepreneurship, will contribute her extensive expertise to our team. Her role in the One Million Black Women initiative at Goldman Sachs, a groundbreaking $10 Billion investment strategy, exemplifies her dedication to narrowing opportunity gaps for Black women across various crucial pillars.
While this introduction only scratches the surface of their impressive backgrounds, stay tuned for additional updates and insights from the BBFI team. The addition of Stefanie, Richard, and Bianca to Zeal Capital Partners underscores our commitment to propelling the next generation of diverse entrepreneurs and companies. We are working to level the playing field and provide capital and support systems to businesses with the potential to deliver outsized returns.
- One important point of clarification for the broader ecosystem is the fact that while the BBFI strategy focuses specifically on championing teams that have at least one Black executive, our core strategy in the investment vehicles that bear our firm's name (e.g., Zeal I) remains unchanged. This strategy focuses on backing exceptional management teams from all backgrounds that are rethinking the building blocks of wealth.
Stefanie, Richard, and Bianca share our passion and commitment and their experiences and insights will be invaluable as we continue to work towards a more inclusive future.