*Following the conclusion of its legal dispute with the conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), Fearless Fund remains committed to supporting marginalized business owners.
Co-founder Arian Simone announced that the Atlanta-based venture capital firm has launched a new debt loan program aimed at providing capital to under-resourced entrepreneurs. The program is open to both men and women who have been in business for at least a year, generate $50,000 in annual revenue, and have a credit score of 600 or higher.
Simone appeared on “CBS Mornings” on Sept. 13, where she emphasized that she will continue her mission to empower underserved entrepreneurs.
“Now we have a debt loan program. Any entrepreneur that is pretty much in business for a year, [have] $50,000 [in annual revenue], [are] under resourced, of course, and has a credit score of 600 can apply for the program — this is for men and women,” Simone explained.
Founded in 2019, the Fearless Fund was created to address the gap in venture capital funding for Black women. The fund offers $20,000 grants to businesses that are at least 51% Black women-owned, providing critical support to help these entrepreneurs grow and thrive.
We reported earlier that Fearless Find ceased running the grant program as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by an anti-affirmative action group. Reuters reports that the case was resolved in June when a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the American Alliance for Equal Rights, a non-profit organization. The court found that the program breached a Civil War-era law prohibiting racial discrimination in contracting.
American Alliance for Equal Rights was founded by Edward Blum, the man who successfully led the fight to end affirmative action in higher education. Blum filed a lawsuit against the Fearless Fund for investing specifically in Black female entrepreneurs.
Blum, the founder of Students for Fair Admissions, the group behind the anti-affirmative action case that reached the Supreme Court, took legal action against the fund for allegedly “operating a racially discriminatory program that blatantly violates Section 1981’s guarantee of race neutrality.”
A trial court judge initially ruled in favor of the Fearless Fund. However, in June, a 2-1 panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta determined that the program likely violated the law.
“This is definitely a win for us. It was actually my idea,” Simone said on CBS Mornings.
“In the big scheme of things, we deploy millions of dollars. The one grant program that was in this case had already been at its conclusion when we got sued. There was only one $20,000 grant left to award. All the money from that program had already been deployed,” she explained.
The businesswoman added, “If we have to forgo that one grant to stay in business, to deploy millions, that is definitely a win.”
READ MORE FROM EURWBE.COM: Fearless Fund Ends Grant Program for Black Women Amid Legal Settlement
