Today, Pow Wow Pitch, North America’s premier pitch competition for emerging Indigenous entrepreneurs, announced a strategic partnership with Indigenous-led venture investment firm, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners to support early-stage Indigenous-owned businesses access growth and impact investment opportunities across the United States and Turtle Island.
Both Indigenous-led organizations, Pow Wow Pitch and Raven Indigenous Capital Partners operate from the perspective of an Indigenous worldview, follow traditional Indigenous protocols, work for the wellbeing of people and the planet, and acknowledge shared responsibility to the next generations.
Raven Indigenous Capital Partners is mobilizing capital and scale-up expertise to fill pervasive gaps faced by Indigenous entrepreneurs – access capital, aligned investors, and connections to new markets. Observing the impact of Pow Wow Pitch as a platform for early-stage Indigenous businesses and its recent foray into the United States, this year, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners has signed on as a Silver-Level sponsor with the clear intention to grow together with Pow Wow Pitch in the American market.
The partnership between Raven Capital and Pow Wow Pitch involves education on accessing growth capital, engaging its employees as mentors, adjudicating the pitch competition, and contributing prize dollars for winning entrepreneurs. Raven and Pow Wow Pitch will also work together strategically to align and move forward in the US market together to accelerator impact for Indigenous entrepreneurs.
“Raven Indigenous Capital Partners is filling an important gap and blazing new trails for Indigenous entrepreneurs across Turtle Island,” said Sunshine Tenasco, Founder of Pow Wow Pitch. “We are so proud to be partnering with Raven to grow our shared impact and to provide trusted, culturally grounded entrepreneurial and growth financing pathways to Indigenous entrepreneurs.”
“We are excited to announce our partnership with Pow Wow Pitch, whose team have been true ecosystem builders in elevating the voices and brands of Indigenous entrepreneurs,” said Althea Wishloff, Partner at Raven Indigenous Capital Partners. “With this partnership, our goal is to learn from founders and share knowledge and capital succession for companies as they grow.”
This Fall, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners will be participating in Pow Wow Pitch’s virtual and US programming, and will be planning strategic meetings with the Pow Wow Pitch leadership to look forward to 2024 expansion activities.
To learn more about the partnership between Pow Wow Pitch and Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, visit: https://www.powwowpitch.org/about/partners/raven-indigenous-capital-partners/