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This holiday season, superstar actor Michael B. Jordan is planning to highlight four top HBCU basketball programs in his hometown of Newark, New Jersey at the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic. While many will focus on the competition on the court, there will be a competition going on in the boardroom.
Jordan's Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic has partnered with Serena Williams' Serena Ventures and MaC Venture Capital to host a Startup Pitch Competition. Entrepreneurs who currently attend or have graduated from historically Black colleges and universities are encouraged to submit their business proposals and investor decks to the Legacy Classic website. From there Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures, Invesco, Harlem Capital and Cake Ventures will prepare founders for the final round of pitches. In the end, the winner will walk away with $1 million in investments and a moment in the sun on TNT during Jordan's basketball tournament.
“HBCUs are an integral part of our educational ecosystem and have long been centers of entrepreneurial excellence. We are thrilled to be partnering with Michael B. Jordan and MaC ventures on highlighting the brilliant student and alumni founders,” Allison Stillman of Serena Ventures said in a press release.
“At MaC we like to say that talent is ubiquitous but access to opportunity is not. Two of our partners are HBCU alumni and we could not be more excited to uncover and support the amazing entrepreneurial talent we know is thriving at these universities," MaC Venture Capital Partner Michael Palanak added.
Jordan's highly anticipated basketball tournament will take place on December 18 at the Prudential Center in Newark. Howard University will play North Carolina A&T while Hampton University plays North Carolina Central University.
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