Investment management giant T. Rowe Price and nonprofit Baltimore Corps recently partnered on a new initiative that aims to get more Black founders and other entrepreneurs of color in the room with angel investors and funders.

Moonshot‘s goal is to break down the barriers that stifle Black founders when it comes to finding funding to scale. While statements announcing the initiative did not specify an exclusive focus on Black founders, its emphasis on equity has particular relevance in a predominantly Black and historically segregated city like Baltimore.

VC funding for Black-led startups doubled nationally from 2020 to 2021 — but before you get too excited, the numbers went from .06 percent of all VC funding to 1.2 percent, according to Crunchbase. That national trend shows itself in the local Baltimore funding scene: The big deals of Baltimore’s historic $768M of VC investment last year featured very few, if any, Black-led ventures.

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