Nex Cubed Announces GrowthX as a Partner for HBCU Founder’s Program
Nex Cubed, a leader in early-stage innovation and startup acceleration, has named GrowthX as a partner to support its Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Founder’s Summer Acceleration Program.
Through partnerships with HBCUs, Nex Cubed is engaging rising students and recent alumni within the HBCU ecosystem that are interested in developing business concepts within Digital Health, FinTech, PropTech, and EdTech. To date, more than 350 students and alumni from over 50 HBCUs have enrolled in the Nex Cubed program and participated in industry webinars and virtual ideation sessions.
Nex Cubed is committed to locking arms with entrepreneurs and organizations that share the belief that having a diversity of ideas and perspectives is both the right thing to do and good for business. Nearly 60% of the Nex Cubed portfolio is led by female or minority founders, while over 30% of GrowthX Capital’s first fund is led by a female founder and 75% of GrowthX Capital’s second fund is led by minority founders. Nex Cubed and GrowthX are perfect partners to inspire students and recent HBCU alumni to pursue their entrepreneurial goals.
“A critical aspect of building a successful startup is reaching product-market fit,” said Marlon Evans, CEO at Nex Cubed. “We are eager to partner with organizations like GrowthX who are committed to empowering the next generation of Black entrepreneurs with not only financial support but the go-to-market coaching and training that’s needed to start acquiring customers and investors.”
As a Partner, GrowthX has launched a version of MXP Online giving the HBCU Founder’s Summer Acceleration Program participants access to live go-to-market coaching, on-demand training, and interactive playbooks.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner with Nex Cubed and participate in the HBCU Founder’s Program,” said Andrew Goldner, CEO and Founding Partner at GrowthX. “For too long, the two verbs of venture – identify and qualify – have been solely focused on the priorities of the funder and have been used to exclude certain founders. GrowthX has introduced a third verb of venture – earn – and it’s entirely focused on the priorities of the founder, as we work hard to earn the right to invest in a diverse community.”
Nex Cubed announced the nine startups and their founders who were selected to participate in the inaugural HBCU Founder’s Summer Acceleration Program, which (virtually) kicked off on June 1st. The founders invited to the Summer Acceleration Program have received $10,000 in non-dilutive capital, technical resources to develop an MVP, physical working space in Silicon Valley, a business advisor, access to the GrowthX MXP Online virtual go-to-market accelerator, and over $1M worth of service provider perks and discounts to help propel their companies.
Others who have raised their hand to support the program include AT&T, Franklin Templeton, AARP, Morgan Stanley, Cooley, and Perkins Coie, along with several community partners such as ACT House, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Black Venture Capital Consortium or BVCC, Divercity, Envision, HBCU Awards, HBCU Nation, Money Making Conversations With Rushion McDonald, NAF, Next Gen HQ, YG&N, and TiE Atlanta.
Media contact
Gallium Ventures
Email: nex3@galliumventures.com
Andrew Goldner
Email: andrew@growthx.com
About Nex Cubed
Nex Cubed is a pre-seed venture accelerator on a mission to invest in and uplift underrepresented founders and underserved communities. Our unwavering commitment lies in fostering diversity and inclusion within the startup ecosystem. We envision a world where all founders, regardless of background, enjoy equal opportunities, access to crucial support, abundant resources, and capital. Together, we forge an inclusive and diverse startup landscape, igniting a transformative path towards a future of boundless possibilities.
About GrowthX
GrowthX is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund run by operators with extensive go-to-market expertise. Founded in 2015, GrowthX has operated its Market Acceleration Program (MXP) exclusively for its portfolio companies since inception.
In 2019, MXP Online was launched to enable global founders, and the organizations that support them, with that same go-to-market expertise in the form of a virtual accelerator that combines live coaching, on-demand training and interactive playbooks to deliver real results. Founders find product-market fit, and GrowthX finds, qualifies and earns investment opportunities.