Newark Venture Partners Spotlights Latest Class of Companies

Newark Venture Partners, the venture capital firm Don founded, presented its latest class of startups at Audible’s recently opened Innovation Cathedral.

The seven companies, which include six founders of color and one Newark resident founder, represent the fund’s efforts to attract cutting-edge tech companies to grown Newark’s tech ecosystem.

“Everyone loves a comeback story, and Newark has a great one.” Don said to investors, community members and government leaders. “The vision for Newark Venture Partners posited that old-fashioned capitalistic, measurable upside could create shareable wealth in the challenged urban core. Twenty-one of [NVP’s] companies have a presence in Newark, with 12 headquartered in the city and growing up here. This while academic analyses indicate that for each tech job in a changing neighborhood like ours in Newark three service-level economy and two professional jobs are spawned.”

Eliana Pintor Marin, an assemblywoman representing Newark and chair of the Assembly’s budget committee, highlighted her proposal for a $25-million state investment in NVP’s second fund, which is seeking to raise $100 million.

Read more about NVP’s 7th Demo Day and the companies presented on NVP’s blog.