Investment banking firm Morgan Stanley launched an accelerator on Tuesday that will focus on startups with female or multicultural founders, co-founders or chief technology officers.
Multicultural Innovation Lab will admit technology or tech-enabled startups at post-seed or series A-stage that are developing potentially disruptive products. It will invest in the participants and support growth through its partner ecosystem.
William Crowder, who formerly headed mass media company Comcast’s corporate venturing unit, Comcast Ventures, will be the entrepreneur-in-residence for the accelerator, which counts Newark Venture Partners and Techstars as partners. It will be based at Morgan Stanley’s global head office in New York.
Morgan Stanley executive director Alice Vilma said: “With less than 3% of venture capital dollars going to multicultural entrepreneurs, we will use Morgan Stanley’s global reach to provide the capital, content and connections needed to help accelerate the growth of these exciting companies and help bridge that funding gap.”