Jessica Leon

You can feel it, something’s shifting in hard tech. From materials to manufacturing to energy, we’re seeing founders take on harder problems, and raising from investors who finally understand what it takes to build in these sectors. When Harpoon Ventures started Black Flag, our goal was simple: help critical-tech founders close the distance between great ideas and the right capital. Over the past few months, we asked hundreds of founders which investors they trust and recommend most. Their answers became something worth sharing: a public list of the most active deep-tech funds today. It’s meant to save founders time, connect them to the right partners, and make this ecosystem a little easier to navigate. 🏴‍☠️ Introducing The Black Flag Investor List → https://lnkd.in/dYsCnpnd

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Had a great time at DC Startup & Tech Week (Formerly DC Startup Week) moderating a panel with Scott Christensen (Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund (CBSCF) , Faith Davis (Exelon) and Bill McNulty (NextEra Energy Investments), convened by the great C'pher Gresham. Here's a quick recap: 1) The panelists were phenomenal - a mixture of corporate, state and foundation-backed VC's all focusing on climate. They're actively funding companies across a range of sectors - e.g. nature-based solutions, energy + AI, water, etc. Point being, we were lucky to have experts with such broad purviews. 2) The current climate could be pushing at least some climate VC's to focus on software and move away from hardware, at least temporarily. This type of capital may indeed just be better suited for software companies at this juncture. It also reflects the fact that certain segments of the climate-tech market are just more mature than others - e.g. software performs best once the hardware and the business case around it are solid, then it becomes and optimization and efficiency game. 3) Founders need to target "must-solve" climate problems from the investor lens. In other words, yes there's a sea of climate challenges where startups can be additive. However, in this environment, few of these areas are attracting meaningful capital. There's nothing wrong with tackling problem areas that are under-invested, we need this in spades. However, for those trying to get capital in the door, realize the constraints that come with targeting problems that investors just aren't prioritizing. 4) Look to funders overseas. The EU, where so much climate finance, policy and general expertise has come from, could be playing a much more important role. I'd also argue that Gulf countries like KSA and UAE are going to be critical here too, not to mention China, of course. 5) We need mentoring and coaching to be at an all-time high. With so much uncertainty, networks/communities where both founders and investors can learn from/lean on each other have never been more important. The panel/audience was a nice microcosm of the types of support networks we need to be actively building. Big thanks again to C'pher, Faith, Scott and Bill, as well as the whole DC Startup + Tech Week team. Til next year!

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BWAM 2025: Joy, Power, and Showing Up in Style There were so many powerful conversations at this year’s Black Women in Asset Management (BWAM) Conference — the fourth annual gathering of brilliant Black women leading across industries and asset classes. Our topics ranged from nunyabusiness to AI (because when do we not talk about AI?). Given the moment we’re in, the through-line was clear: we’re still too often the only Black woman in the room — and the fight to hold that seat and maintain the respect it deserves is more real than ever. For me personally, the fall fundraising travel marathon has been already real enough. Add on the ridiculous government shutdown chaos and flight change wack-a-mole, I arrived in Atlanta exhausted and, quite frankly, depressed. But as soon as I walked up that staircase to register and saw the OUTFITS?! Felt the energy?! The Joy and smiles coming from my LADIES? Instantly restorative. The bookends: Stacey Abrams opened with her signature boldness — every word specific, actionable, and unapologetic. Kimberly N. Ellison-Taylor kept it all the way real about in our last panel about takes to show up in the boardroom: 🚫 no need to make ourselves smaller, 🚫 we don't need over explain ourselves, 🗼 just need to stay ready. And if there’s one thing about us Black women, especially FOR EACH OTHER, we show up in our finest. The fits, the energy, and the excellence are just the baseline.  For the handful of men and white women who got to be in the room, the looks on their faces were giving 🎟️ ⚱️"I've got a Golden Ticket" vibes. On Friday morning, I had the honor of moderating for the brilliant Sydney Paige Thomas, Laura Weidman Powers, and Erika Seth Davies on Mission-Driven Investing. It was a reminder that values-aligned investing is quite the opposite of philanthropy; it’s a strategy, legacy, and a charter for those of us in power to make sustainable change. In the hallways, we talked money, kids, relationships, skincare, and our collective rage all in the same breath. We LAUGHED, we yelled about each other’s outfits, stomped our feet in response to funny stories, and threw more shade than a eucalyptus tree at one another because, well, it was literally all love ❤️ Our conversations can be honest, urgent, and filled with JOY all at once. As historian Kellie Carter Jackson writes in We Refuse: “Joy is a weapon. It is how we fortify ourselves. It is how we enact our humanity.” Thank you Jacqueline James for continuing to do this important work year over year. 🎥 A few looks from the week that carried all that energy. In order: Sydney Paige Thomas, Erika Seth Davies Mary Walker Paula Groves Patrice C. Washington Antonia Dean Shila Nieves Burney

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🔥 Access to venture capital remains tough, with only 2% of women and low percentages of Latino and Black founders securing funding. But speed pitching is redefining the game by levelling the playing field and speeding up access to investors. Speed pitching events condense key startup pitches into minutes, allowing diverse founders to showcase traction and value upfront in front of focused, niche investors. This approach cuts through traditional barriers, creating opportunities for underrepresented founders to raise capital despite tighter VC markets and longer funding cycles. 📖 Full story from Victoria Yampolsky of The Startup Station: https://lnkd.in/erHbPNuJ #VC #SpeedPitching #DiversityInTech #Funding2025 #StartupSuccess #Inclusion #Innovation #TechFunding

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New partnership alert!! Excited to announce that Black Flag is partnering with xAI to give founders free credits and direct access to Grok - xAI’s family of powerful, multi-modal, real-time models. Across essentially any end product you're applying to Black Flag with, Grok will deliver: - Deep reasoning across text, code, and context - Faster inference and improved function calling - CUI: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth just announced that Grok is being adopted for handling Controlled Unclassified Information If you're building in critical technology areas important to the West - space, energy, autonomy, cyber - the next generation of secure software will be built with Grok and you can now get a head start through Black Flag. Only 18 days left to apply to Black Flag’s January batch - apply at the link in the comments!

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For the past few years, I’ve been deeply focused on one question: What does it actually take to help #Black and underfunded founders build businesses that scale? A recent Pew Research Center study reinforced something many of us working in this space already know: while access to capital is the most visible barrier, it’s rarely the only one. Many #underfunded businesses struggle to grow not because the founders lack talent or vision, but because the structures around their businesses weren’t designed for efficiency or scale in the first place. Why? Because access to: • the right networks • technical assistance • stage-specific guidance has historically been uneven. So instead of focusing on just one intervention (like #funding), I started designing a support structure that tackles the how of business growth. Here’s the framework we’ve been building: 1. Assess: Founders evaluate where their business actually is today. 2. Equip: They get access to the tools, education, and resources that match their stage. 3. Support: They receive targeted opportunities to grow based on that stage. Today I want to highlight #3: Support. One way we’re doing this is through the Rialto Business Directory. Yes, #founders can list their products or services, but the real value is deeper than that. The directory can also be used to: • find early customers • recruit beta users • run market research • test new ideas with a supportive ecosystem In other words, it’s not just a directory, it’s a growth tool. And the best part? It’s free for founders. If you’re building something and want a space to test, learn, and grow, I’d love for you to join us. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eMteVkGX #MelsMondayMusings

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Angel Launch is delighted to partner with George Mason University and @Mason Enterprise Center - Fairfax who is producing the 5th year of ACCELERATE CONFERENCE on Nov 5-6 2025 in the Wash DC Metro area (Arlington VA).   Thanks to our Mason Enterprise partners Paula Sorrell and Lauren Bigelow, PhD for inviting us to host a session on Doing Deals with Silicon Valley. Startups, vendors and tech execs can register to attend at https://lnkd.in/gY-bbCgs. We invite investors to join a keynote panel in Nov 5 from 4 to 5pm or judge a session. The panel takes place on the main stage panel focusing on Doing Deals with Silicon Valley and AI/Tech Investing Trends. If you are selected and approved, we cover some travel expenses. The panel will focus on how to do deals in the Valley: tech and AI Trends; investing strategies; which are the hot markets; opportunities for SV and government partnerships; state of investing in SV; and trends to watch. Angel Launch is a leading producer of tech venture forums connecting thousands of global startups to hundreds of accredited investors for early and advanced stage funding for 10 years. Our host covers approved travel expenses .   Investors: Apply to speak on a keynote panel, or judge a separate startup pitch session, or both.  Investors: Reply here to speak or judge with company, name, title,email and cell phone or email to info@angellaunch.com. Startups and execs can register to attend at www.acceleratedeals.org Join these confirmed panel speakers : Keshia Theobald-van Gent, VP, BDev Ventures Anish Srivastava, Venture Partner, SwissCom Ventures Jonathan Healy, Associate, Cathay Innovation   Accelerate features keynote speakers, workshops, prominent investors and corporate executives, venture forum, VIP receptions and meals. This event will feature over 500 attendees including global investors, angels, defense and military, and corporate partners. You get invited to all events including dinners, gala and exclusive VIP reception with top high net worth family offices, angels and LPS primarily from the east coast seeking Silicon Valley investing opportunities and investment partners. This is ideal if you are an investor seeking high net worth investors for your next fund or startups doing fundraising. STARTUPS WILL PITCH IN THESE AREAS INCLUDING FOCUS ON AI Biotech/ Healthcare/ Healthtech/ Digital Health Cybersecurity IT Security Defense tech Software / SaaS All other (AgTech, Media, Energy, etc.) Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Communications

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