Gilbert Family Foundation Launches Venture 313, Building On Support Of Detroit's Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

The Gilbert Family Foundation on Thursday announced the launch of Venture 313, a three-year, $10 million commitment that will help fulfill Detroit’s entrepreneurial potential and provide founders with opportunities to participate in the innovation economy.

What To Know: The commitment includes direct investments into startups, a web-based platform that provides guidance for entrepreneurs and innovative programming. 

The $10 million will be used to invest directly in small business owners and develop programming to further the goals of Venture 313. In addition to increasing access to direct capital, Venture 313 seeks to simplify the entrepreneurial ecosystem by connecting multiple partners through one common platform.

"Venture 313 is a year-round, catalytic initiative that will provide Detroit-based entrepreneurs with access to capital, mentorship and other support they need to build their business and achieve greater economic mobility for themselves and their community," said Jennifer Gilbert, co-founder of the Gilbert Family Foundation.

"In the largest majority-Black city in the country, we are excited to work alongside such dedicated partners to help bridge the venture capital gap that sees only 1% of funds go to Black founders," Gilbert added.

Investing In Entrepreneurs: Venture 313 and its partners will invest between $500 and $250,000 into Detroit businesses through a mixture of grant funding and equity-like investments. 

• Invest Detroit, a Community Developmental Financial Institution (CDFI) will source venture-ready or high-growth focused startups. 
• TechTown Detroit, a nonprofit that provides programs, education and resources for early-stage small businesses and tech entrepreneurs, will invest in smaller businesses who are primarily looking to evolve from ideation to the creation of a minimum viable product.
• The Detroit Development Fund will provide loans and technical assistance to small business owners who cannot get all the capital they need from traditional financing sources.

Collectively, these three founding partners will work to develop and simplify Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by demystifying the startup journey, aligning capital, mentoring founders and improving the ability for Detroit startups to create new things and compete for customers.

Venture313.com: To obtain funding and participate in programming and networking opportunities, interested entrepreneurs can begin their journey by visiting the Venture 313 website at Venture313.com. The journey planner will provide entrepreneurs with a playbook uniquely tailored to their needs.

The Playbook will also direct entrepreneurs to the partner who can best support their needs and provide them with funding.

The next phase of the website, which is expected to be rolled out by the end of the year, will allow small business owners to request mentors, invite team members and access important business components and tools.

"We need to be as disruptive and agile as the businesses we are looking to support, and these playbooks and other resources will allow us to grow Venture 313 into a catalytic platform that truly opens the door for Detroit’s entrepreneurs," said James Feagin, director of economic mobility for the Gilbert Family Foundation.

Related Link: Motor City Contractor Fund Launches To Help Detroit's Minority Entrepreneurs 'Bid Smart, Grow Smart And Borrow Smart'

Detroit Demo Day: Venture 313 is the successor to Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day, an annual entrepreneurship competition that invested more than $1 million every year into businesses in a variety of categories.

The Rocket Community Fund, the philanthropic partner of Rocket Companies Inc RKT, commissioned a study from PricewaterhouseCoopers to understand the economic impact of Detroit Demo Day, which invested more than $5 million over five iterations of the event into dozens of Detroit businesses.

More than half of the event’s past winners participated in the study, which was released Thursday. The study found that Detroit Demo Day winners supported 531 jobs, contributed $15.8 million of labor income and $23.8 million of value added in 2021.

"We are so proud of everything Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day was able to accomplish over its five-year run. Today’s report confirms the impact of our investments on the participating businesses, their team members and our communities," said Laura Grannemann, vice president of the Rocket Community Fund and executive director of the Gilbert Family Foundation.

"Venture 313 is doubling down on this approach by taking what we learned from a one-day event and creating year-round opportunities for entrepreneurs to receive capital and other resources."

Related Link: Rocket Companies Chairman Dan Gilbert Commits $500M To Detroit Neighborhoods, Starts With Property Tax Debt Relief

Photo: Rocket Companies Chairman Dan Gilbert and his wife Jennifer, the co-founders of the Gilbert Family Foundation, at the March 2021 rollout of a $500-million investment in the city of Detroit. Benzinga file photo by Dustin Blitchok.