Application

The Black Ambition HBCU Prize seeks to strengthen pathways to entrepreneurship, increase access to capital and expand pathways to growth, and highlight the talents of Black and Hispanic founders. 

Teams applying for the Black Ambition HBCU Prize must have a team lead with an affiliation to an HBCU and be a member of the founding team (VP or C-Suite level). HBCU affiliation is defined as at least one current HBCU undergraduate or graduate student (full-time or part-time), or one recent alum within 5  years of graduation, or one former student within 5  years of attending the institution. Team leads must identify as Black/African/African American and/or Hispanic/Latino/a/.

The Black Ambition HBCU Prize is for ventures that have raised no more than $1M in dilutive funding to date. This category is for projects that have shown progress against the venture concept (tested the concept, working prototype, minimum viable product).

Application Deadline: May 8, 2023

Businesses in the field of consumer products and services*, healthcare, technology, Web 3.0 ventures, and/or media and entertainment are eligible to apply.

  • Consumer products and services – “businesses that sell goods sold to consumers for their own use or enjoyment and not as means for further economic production activity” (Source: Investopedia)
  • *Consumer products include consumer packaged goods, home goods, food/beverage, and fashion/apparel, but does not include music
  • Healthcare – “businesses that provide medical services, manufacture medical equipment, provide medical insurance, or otherwise facilitate the provision of healthcare to patients”
  • Tech – “businesses revolving around the manufacturing of electronics, creation of software, computers or products and services relating to information technology” (Source: Investopedia)
  • Media & Entertainment: businesses focused on meeting consumer needs in creative industries inclusive of cinema, television, radio, theater, publishing, gaming, advertising and music.
  • Web 3.0: businesses offering web-based products or services that leverage artificial intelligence, speech recognition, the metaverse, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and/or augmented or virtual reality technologies to empower internet users to search for, organize, and process data.

Note: Black Ambition is not focused on highly capital-intensive businesses that require significant long-term investment (e.g., biotechnology, pharmaceuticals)

For additional information on eligibility criteria for the Black Ambition HBCU Prize applications, please visit our website.

If you would like additional support with your application, please take a look our application resource guide . If you have additional questions please feel free to email us at [email protected].