Black-Led VC Firm Raises $58.1M for Employees

Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H) recently closed their first investment fund at $58.1 million, Essence reports.

This Black-led venture capital firm plans to tackle the racial wealth gap using the same structure as the 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). A&H looks to acquire profitable, privately-held companies, fill the workforce with workers of color then transition them into a 100% employee-owned business, which is called A&H’s Employee-Led Buy Out (ELBO) transaction. This business model is beneficial to the worker due to the tax advantages, opportunities, and stability it provides. According to A&H, millennial workers at ESOP companies have 33% higher median income from their wages when compared to millennial workers at non-ESOP companies; company sales, employment, and productivity increase by more than 2% per year after implementing an ESOP.

A&H recently announced the final close of its first investment fund at $58.1 million, exceeding their goal of $50 million.

Morehouse graduate and A&H founding partner Todd Leverette stated in a news release, “The whole A&H team is humbled by the outpouring of interest and support from the investment community for our novel approach. We are trying to create a better path for employees, especially workers of color, to gain from their own hard work and innovation while also building great small companies into great bigger companies.”

Phil Reeves, who’s also a Morehouse graduate and A&H founding partner, stated, “Our value-proposition has been well received by business owners. With two transactions under our belt, we have two founders/sellers who are proud of the legacy they are creating for their community and their workers by transitioning their companies into 100% employee-owned businesses through the auspices, capital and guidance of A&H. Since we focus on enterprises that have a large number of low-income workers and workers of color, we know we are going to make capitalism start working for people who have been denied these opportunities for so long. You might say A&H aims to put the “equity” back in private equity.”

This article originally appeared on Because of Them We Can.

Jay-Z’s Lawsuit Dropped After Officials Clean up Mississippi Prison

By Stacy M. Brown WI SENIOR WRITER, NNPA

Conditions at the notorious Parchman Prison in Mississippi have “substantially improved” since Jay-Z, a hip-hop star and business mogul, filed a lawsuit demanding better conditions for the thousands of people who are locked up there.

The superstar’s management company, Roc Nation, said that it would drop its lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections now that the maximumsecurity prison for men has been greatly improved.

The Jackson, Mississippi, newspaper Clarion-Ledger says that the Justice Department started looking into Parchman in 2020 after watchdog groups said there was more violent crime, less control over gangs, and living conditions that were less than humane.

Leaked cell phone footage from inside the prison at the start of the coronavirus pandemic showed that inmates were living in places that were flooded, full of bugs and rats, mold was everywhere in the building, and the food was often rotten or, at the very least, unhealthy.

As a result of Roc Nation’s lawsuit and a subsequent — and ongoing — DOJ investigation, prison officials said they would make changes like giving the medical center at Parchman two working ambulances instead of an old van; installing new stainless-steel showers, toilets, and sinks; upgrading the heating, air conditioning, ventilation, and plumbing systems; adding basketball, flag football, and boxing as recreational activities; replacing broken tiles and getting rid of mold; and putting up a new fence around the property.