Innovation center for black and Latina founders opens this summer in Atlanta

digitalundivided, an organization geared toward advancing equity in tech, is opening an innovation center for black and Latina female founders in tech this summer.

Located in downtown Atlanta, GA, the BIG Innovation Center will be home to a four-month long accelerator program as well as a paid developer internship program for students interested in computer programming. digitalundivided hopes to reach around 2,000 black and Latina founders per year. The accelerator program will offer training around how to build a startup, office space, mentors and seed funding from the Harriet Angels’ syndicate, which is backed by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Kathryn Finney, the founder of digitalundivided.

Underrepresented minorities in tech could stand to benefit from this quite a bit. Of all venture deals from 2012 to 2014, only 0.2% (24 of 10,238 deals) went to went to black female founders, according to a recent report by digitalundivided, The Real Unicorns of Tech: Black Founders Women. On average, black female-led startups raise just $36,000 of outside funding, according to the report. There are only 11 startups founded by black women that have raised more than $1 million in VC funding. Through digitalundivided, that should hopefully change.

“We are champions of game changing innovation and disruptive ideas and are excited to continue our work in the city of Atlanta”, digitalundivided Managing Director Kathryn Finney said.  “We look forward to being a vital hub for Atlanta’s emerging diverse tech community.”