Brooklyn, New York-based Collide closed its Fund I at $ 66 million.

Collide Capital, a VC firm founded in 2016 by Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels, seeks to back founders best positioned to solve the next generation of global challenges. The firm announced Thursday its debut VC fund of $ 66 million backed by nameplate investors. These include the University of California endowment as anchor, Citi, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Twitter (NYSE: TWTR). (Forbes)

Also participating are Northwestern Mutual, Bain Capital, Insight Partners, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Significantly, 80% of the 40 start-ups that Collide has funded so far are led by Black, Latino or female founders. Prior to the current fundraising the founders spent two years building a $ 1.3 million “fund zero” to create a demonstrable track record. In this “test fund” there were 34 investments, of which 10 raised subsequent rounds at higher valuations, while three were acquired.

The founders then commenced efforts to raise $ 40 million in January which ended happily oversubscribed by June.

The new fund will invest in seed stage start-ups writing checks of about $ 750,000 each.

But the founders also have a vision to initiate a new tech ecosystem that emphasises diversity, as apparent from their track record so far.

“As Twitter continues to prioritize its investments in the teams, companies, and funds that represent diverse and underrepresented groups, we’re proud to support Collide Capital’s Fund I and join them in the pursuit for a more diverse and inclusive tech industry,” said Jon Chen, VP of Corporate Development & Strategy at Twitter.

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