Overlooked Ventures Receives Funding From Bank of America

A newly established fund by Overlooked Ventures to help disregarded entrepreneurs was seeded with capital from Bank of America.

The undisclosed Bank of America investment aligns with its $350 million commitment to support entrepreneurs that are under the radar by financially backing minority-focused funds that are typically overlooked.

Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio and founded in May 2021, Overlooked Ventures is led by general partners Janine Sickmeyer and Brandon Brooks. The startup is focused on assisting diverse founder teams with one or more founders that are part of a group that has been historically ignored, according to a Thursday (March 31) press release.

“Overlooked Ventures is honored to have received our first institutional check from Bank of America, a financial institution that has and continues to make such a positive impact to advance minority groups. We admire the bank’s commitment to underserved communities and its support of Overlooked Ventures, a firm led by first-time fund managers,” said Sickmeyer.

With the establishment of Fund I, Overlooked Ventures has $50 million available to technology and tech-enabled startups at the pre-seed and seed stages.

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Overlooked Ventures has backed eight companies in six sectors, including FinTech, mobility tech, femtech and age tech. Its diversity breakdown is 42% Black, 16% Hispanic-Latino, and the remaining 42% are Indian, Iranian, Syrian and Ashkenazi Jew.

So far, the company has backed Blooming Health and The Difference in New York, CarpeDM and Moment.ai in Washington, D.C., College Cash in Texas, Femly in Maryland, and others.

“Bank of America’s equity investment in Overlooked Ventures reinforces our ongoing efforts to address the continual gap in access to capital and to deploy more into emerging companies led by diverse entrepreneurs,” said Kelly D’Ambrosia, president, Bank of America Columbus.

“Access to capital is key to participation in economic growth and wealth creation, and Overlooked Ventures is uniquely positioned to provide funding and make introductions for underrepresented fund managers and founders,” D’Ambrosia said.

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