Colorintech is a non-profit which aims to increase the access and inclusion of ethnic minorities in the world of technology. They do this through a range of tactics, which include partnerships with large companies, including Facebook, Google, and venture capital firm, Atomico. Regarding this new partnership, Ainsley states that, “this is our first significant step into the financial services space. We expect to be doing more as part of this section of the industry. These are massive employers who can make a big difference to society if they get on board.”

As part of this partnership with SVB, the financial institution will provide tailored banking and financial services to early-stage founders within the Colorintech community. Founders in this community will also benefit from access to SVB’s own experts as well as its vast network of investors, founder CEOs, and professional services experts to support their growth journey.

“Fundamentally we started this because we couldn’t see many people in technology who looked like us,” Ainsley commented when asked about the founding. The company started in 2016 and was Ainsley and co-founder Dion McKenzie’s spare time project, but it has grown into a full-time enterprise.

Ainsley explained one of the key programmes this partnership with SVB would allow for: “We have developed a programme called Rise, where we take a group of 12 entrepreneurs every year and match them with industry experts. This helps our entrepreneurs with their business through gathering more knowledge, which might be on different challenges like finance raising or debt equity.

“We’re excited to build an enduring partnership with SVB. For decades, SVB has played a pivotal role in supporting some of the most successful businesses to reach true scale and we are delighted to bring that level of support closer to founders in the UK. Through content, innovative activations, and our Rise program, we’re confident that more entrepreneurs than ever will get greater access to a partner in SVB that is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion through their products, services, and people,” Ainsley continued.

SVB will leverage the Colorintech community of tech and innovation talent as part of its hiring strategy across EMEA. This will help drive a more diverse SVB workforce and broader innovation ecosystem, by encouraging clients to use the community as part of their own talent programmes.

Erin Platts, head of EMEA and president of SVB UK branch added: “We’re delighted to now be a partner to Colorintech, as we both share a collective vision of making Europe the most diverse innovation hub in the world. We have long admired the organisation established by Ashleigh and Dion and believe Silicon Valley Bank’s investment from a resource and financial stance will help grow the community to the next level.

“Typically for a startup, your first buyers are friends or people that you know. People tend to know people like them, and work with people like them. So if you look at the technology industry, where only 3% of people are Black. So if you look at every 100 startups, we know less than 97 of them aren’t going to be from a black community. This sits in a time where we know less than a penny in the pound of startup funding goes to Black founders too, and that’s when the metrics are working well and we know there is lots of other reasons to be discriminated against. The over reliance on referrals in the industry has been unequitable, and ultimately lessens opportunities for talent.”

Ainsley continued: “One of the things that SVB realised was to get ahead and to get a good understanding of new and emerging business, you can’t operate in resistance to them. They realise that working with an organisation like us will allow for them to have their ear to the ground, this will help them with customers, but also in acquiring new talent.”