Consumer electronics producer Apple has committed $10m to US-based venture capital firm Harlem Capital to invest in 1,000 minority-led businesses over the next 20 years.
Apple launched its $100m Racial Equity and Justice Initiative in June 2020 following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Harlem Capital has 21 portfolio companies, 43% of which were women-led and 47% led by Black or Latino CEOs, having closed its first fund at $40m in late 2019.
The move comes after payment services provider PayPal committed a total of $50m to eight early-stage venture capital firms targeting black and Latinx-founded companies in the US, including Harlem Capital, in October 2020.
Apple’s previously corporate venturing initiatives had included setting up a $1bn investment fund in 2017 to focus on the advanced manufacturing space, and a $1bn commitment to the near-$100bn Vision Fund raised by telecommunications firm Softbank.
