Diverse and emerging fund managers are struggling to raise capital in an unforgiving environment. Zeal Capital Partners, launched five years ago by Nasir Qadree to invest in narrowing health, wealth and skills gaps, is thriving.
The Washington, DC mission-driven venture capital firm secured its first major pension allocation from Delta Air Lines Pension Fund, the airline’s $16 billion private pension. The commitment “is a powerful signal for an early firm,” Qadree told ImpactAlpha. “It’s a testament to how much we’ve evolved.”
Delta leads a group of new limited partners in Zeal, including Spelman College, MassMutual, Wells Fargo, M&T Bank, Citi Impact Fund and Zaffre Investments. The fund also secured commitments from LPs in Zeal’s $54 million first fund, including Capricorn Investment Group and Hampton University, Qadree’s alma mater (see, “Nasir Qadree: Democratizing entrepreneurship”).
Mission-driven portfolio
From the new fund, Zeal will write early stage checks ranging from $1 million to $2.3 million in two-dozen or so companies over four years and reserve half the capital for follow-on investments.
Qadree’s goal: “Become the most active early stage, mission-driven venture capital firm that’s laser focused on narrowing the wealth, health, and skills gap” in financial technology, the future of learning and work and healthcare.
The fund has backed five companies, including Seven Starling, a New York-based maternal mental health care provider; and Debbie, a Miami-based financial wellness app that rewards users for positive financial behaviors.
Bridging wealth and skills gaps
The second fund triples Zeal’s total assets under management to $186 million. The firm manages Barclays’ Black Formation Investments, a $50 million pre-seed fund on the bank’s balance sheet that invests in Black founders narrowing wealth and skills gaps. The entrepreneurs represent a pipeline for investments from Zeal, which has invested in more than 40 companies.
Zeal’s first fund has not yet scored any exits, but Qadree said it is performing well, “making a massive impact around narrowing both wealth and skills gap.”
Zeal was an early backer of New York-based Esusu to help people leverage rent payments to improve their credit score – before it became one of the first Black-led unicorns.
