10 Black Angel Investors You Should Know About as a Minority in Tech

Statistics show African-American-owned firms are less likely to receive angel investments, according to Black Enterprise. In the first half of 2013, only 8.5 percent of startups pitching to angel investors were minority-owned, 16 percent were women-led, according to a report by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. Only 15 percent of those minority-owned businesses successfully got funded, while 24 percent of the female entrepreneurs received angel investments. Moreover, ethnic minorities account for less than 5 percent of the angel population.

Troy Carter, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Atom Factory

Troy Carter is the founder, chairman and CEO of Atom Factory, an entertainment and music management company. He has managed artists such as Lady Gaga and John Mayer. Carter began his career in Philadelphia working for actor/rapper Will Smith and gaining industry traction. He is the founder of AF Square, an investor firm that discovers and develops companies whose business disrupts the status quo. The organization provides business expertise and counsel to help companies identify key partners, reach a diverse consumer base and achieve record-breaking results, according to its website. Carter announced the creation of a new fund between $75 million and $100 million to triple-down on tech investing activity.

Ken Coleman, Special Adviser, Andreessen Horowitz

Ken Coleman, a former captain in the U.S. Air Force, has served not only overseas but also in the trenches in the heart of Silicon Valley. He held several managerial positions at Hewlett-Packard, an information technology company, and joined Activision, a video game publisher as its vice president of product development. He was the founder of ITM Software, an information technology software company, and raised $20 million in venture capital funding. Coleman is currently involved with Andreesseen Horowitz, a venture capital firm founded in Menlo Park, California.