most diverse cities<\/a>, ranking at number five. Asked if he was worried about the anti-DEI backlash, as his fund targets founders of color, Ellis offered a simple response.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cWe strongly believe that venture capital should be accessible to everyone and that underinvested and diverse teams offer a unique opportunity for significant returns,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite his growing love for Houston, Ellis actually hails from New Orleans and started his career in the military. \u201cI\u2019ve always been a very mission-driven person, so after serving seven years active duty in the Navy, I transitioned to the corporate sector.\u201d <\/p>\n
That led him to work as a healthcare consultant, which later exposed him to a corporate innovation group. That group then taught him about how to use technology in a way that helps people with the mundane aspects of everyday life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like, \u2018I can\u2019t believe we get paid to do this,\u2019\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd my colleague said, \u2018You should see what the VCs do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He networked until he landed on the corporate venture team at PepsiCo, where he performed a mix of technology scouting, corporate partnerships, and investing in food and agriculture-related funds. From there, he went to Ohio State, where he helped manage a pool of money to later invest in Midwest-focused VC funds and startups spun out from the university.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was around that time that the pandemic happened, the George Floyd murder happened, and I was able to reflect on my career and the impact I was having and the fact that I was often the only Black or brown face in any room that I was in,\u201d Ellis said. \u201cI wanted to do something about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Serendipitously, he received a call from a friend in Houston, who told him that the city was working to raise its profile in tech and innovation. His friend, in particular, said many stakeholders had an appetite to support a fund backing founders of color. That, and he had already told many of them that Ellis would be the perfect person to lead one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, Ellis came down to Houston and birthed the idea for South Loop Ventures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He described the fundraising process as \u201cdifficult.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe began just as the market started to slow down, and it continued to become more challenging,\u201d he said. \u201cWhile we had strong initial momentum, it ultimately took us 24 months to complete.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He met most of the fund\u2019s current investors through a network of stakeholders, adding that Mercury Fund in particular helped connect him with other investors in the ecosystem. Next, Ellis is hoping to lure some more tech talent to the city. That, and, of course, pour some money into founders looking to build the next big thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are naturally drawn to live here, which I believe will help attract top-tier founders who will see not only the business opportunities but also feel welcome and comfortable,\u201d he said. \u201cWith South Loop\u2019s support, we aim to ensure they also feel empowered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Loop Ventures, a Houston-based venture firm, announced a $21 million Fund I, with Rice Management Company and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3094],"tags":[51,3134,2915,16,15,16221],"class_list":{"0":"post-118950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entrepreneurship","10":"tag-exclusive","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-venture"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114544127754432446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}