Micro Equity Fund
About the Fund
The Manufacturing Diversity Institute’s Micro-Equity Fund is an investment vehicle specifically designed to bring investment capital to Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s under-served communities. MDI defines “under-served communities” as African-American, other people of color and Military Veterans. The fund provides under-served entrepreneurs with a new and flexible source of equity capital with the intentions of helping start-ups develop into successful small-to-medium size companies.
Investing in under-served communities in milwaukee
Target Industries
MDI seeks relationships with entrepreneurs whose ventures are located in identified growth sectors like but not limited to:
Manufacturing & Industrialized Construction
Energy, Power, & Control
Food & Beverage
Information technology (IT)
Water
investing in start-ups & growing businesses
How It Works
Entrepreneurs can use the capital for start-up as well as expansion. As an investor, MDI takes an equity stake in the business. Under-served businesses are expected to match the investment with a 2/1 match, meaning additional investment capital from other investors (i.e., angel investors, financial institutions, foundations, etc.) who want to add under-served investment capital to their portfolios.
MDI and matching-partner investors will both share the risk and success of businesses supported by the fund. MDI will not participate in the daily operations of running the business. MDI does expect to take a board seat in order to provide guidance and executive support to help the business grow and achieve success.
To the benefit of the entrepreneur, MDI leverages several of its staff and board’s equity investment and small business lending experience spanning several decades. As a micro-capital investor, MDI’s fund is geared to help excavate underserved hidden innovative talent by providing necessary capital to not only create opportunities, wealth, and jobs but to increase the speed in which under-served companies are launched.
