Across Europe, Black founders continue to face steep barriers to venture funding. A recent Google for Startups report highlights the scale of the challenge, pointing to persistent gaps in access to capital for Black-led businesses.

The stark gap underscores how little capital Black founders in Europe receive, as systemic barriers and a lack of diverse venture capital firms continue to limit access to funding.

Despite this, a growing number of Black investors are emerging across Europe—backing founders, opening doors, and building pathways for the next generation. One such investor is Christina Caljé. The founder-turned-investor has seen firsthand the challenges diverse founders face and is now working to persuade Amsterdam-based investors to back them.

In an exclusive interview with UrbanGeekz, she revealed her motivation for championing investment in diverse founders.”My inspiration to fund diverse founders is partly personal. Still, it’s also practical: the most consequential technologies of the next decade are going to be built for the full spectrum of society,” Caljé said.

“That means we need to fund companies that are as diverse as the societies they’re meant to serve — at the founder, leadership, and operator level. The gap between who gets backed and who should be backed isn’t just a diversity problem. It’s a problem for the quality of the outcomes we’re all going to live with.”

Related Post: Top London-based Investors Investing in Black Founders

Alongside Caljé, we curated a list spotlighting Black European investors who support diverse startups. 

Christina Caljé: Curiosity VC –  Netherlands

Born and raised in New York City, Christina Caljé is an accomplished entrepreneur, angel investor, and advocate for diversity in Tech. With a background as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, she transitioned to the startup world and co-founded Autheos. This AI-driven video marketing technology platform was acquired in 2021.

She has since shifted her focus from building companies to shaping the startup ecosystem, particularly by supporting underrepresented founders, especially women and founders of color. Caljé is an advisor at Curiosity VC, where she supports early-stage AI-driven B2B software companies in Europe. She also co-founded the Impact Investor Group and mentors startups through various accelerator programs.

“My inspiration to fund diverse founders is partly personal, but it’s also practical: the most consequential technologies of the next decade are going to be built for the full spectrum of society.”

Through her firm TINTT (Too Important Not To Try), the Netherlands-based investor advises leaders in venture funds, corporates, governments, and academic institutions on navigating strategic and ethical trade-offs in frontier innovation. She serves in advisory, board, and investment committee roles, bringing an operator’s perspective to complex, high-stakes decision-making.

Fabrice Do Rego: Blueprint VC – Belgium

Fabrice do Rego co-founded The Blueprint VC, a venture capital firm supporting underrepresented founders in France and Belgium. The firm was established alongside Ibrahim Ouassari in December 2021 to address the capital allocation gap for diverse teams, which he believes perform better but receive less funding.

They invest in mixed teams with diverse backgrounds, particularly in terms of gender and ethnicity. The Brussels-based VC has a mission to turn market inefficiencies into superior performance while creating a new generation of role models for the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Before The Blueprint VC, Do Rego held significant roles in finance at Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Credit Suisse. He also founded Valmeon Corporate Finance, an M&A advisory firm. 

The Blueprint VC focuses on seed and pre-seed rounds of $117,000 to $468,000 (€100,000-€400,000 checks). They’re sector-agnostic but prioritize HealthTech, Climate/Green Mobility, and Consumer Tech.

Judith Dada: Visionaries Club – Germany

Judith Dada is a General Partner at Visionaries Club, a Berlin- and London-based venture capital firm, leading B2B funds alongside co-founder Robert Lacher since March 2025. She focuses on enterprise and AI-driven business models, with notable investments such as Personio, Parloa, Buynomics, Ethon, and Orbem.

Related Post: 30 Startups Selected For Google’s $2M Black Founders Fund in Europe

Previously, Dada was a General Partner at La Famiglia VC from 2017 to 2025, helping to build it into a leading European seed-stage investor. After La Famiglia merged with General Catalyst in 2024, she remained a Partner before moving to the Visionaries Club, citing a preference for a more focused approach.

Dada’s background includes roles at Facebook, where she managed Amazon Europe teams and launched the VC Growth Initiative. She was also an investment manager at Holtzbrinck Digital. She holds an MSc. degree (2015-2016) from the University of Oxford. The Germany-based investor is a recognized thought leader in European Tech, speaking on AI adoption and challenges facing founders.

Vera Elizabeth Baker: 4P CAPITAL – France

Vera Elizabeth Baker is a General Partner at 4P CAPITAL, a Paris and Frankfurt-based venture capital firm, where she leads the early-stage investment strategy focusing on Climate, Health, and Education sectors. As a former Atomico Angel investor with a portfolio of over 30 impact startups, she joined 4P CAPITAL in 2024, bringing a wealth of experience from political fundraising in Washington, D.C., and operational roles in the French tech ecosystem.

Her career experience includes investing in early-stage European and African startups, serving as Director at the Founders Institute Paris Accelerator, and working as an Operator at several venture-backed startups. In addition, her work is recognized for advancing diversity and inclusion, notably championing women of color in European venture capital and co-launching Next Impact Europe, an initiative supporting diverse-led impact startups.

At 4P CAPITAL, Baker guides the Resilience 1 fund, investing $335K-$1.9 million (€250K-€1 million) in pre-seed to seed-stage companies. Her portfolio includes Emidat, Climate-X, Green-Got, PlanetFWD, and Curiouz, with a focus on decarbonization, the circular economy, and sustainability education.

With over a decade in Paris, Baker’s career path includes eight years on Capitol Hill, roles at Jua Fund, Unconventional Ventures, and Mentor at Paris Techstars Sustainability Accelerator, positioning her as a key player in European impact investing.

Jeffrey Williams: TIN Capital – Netherlands

Jeffrey Williams is an experienced investment professional based in Utrecht, Netherlands. He is a Senior Investment Manager at the Regional Development Agency (ROM) Utrecht Region and an Advisory Board Member at Withthegrid. He focuses on early- and late-stage venture capital investments in health, digital, and sustainability sectors.

Williams also serves as a Limited Partner Advisory Committee Member at TIN Capital, one of Europe’s leading cybersecurity venture capital firms. He previously held the role of Investment Advisor at Sportspace, where governance and fundraising were primary responsibilities. He also held various positions at Brightlands Venture Partners, ranging from Investment Analyst to Investment Manager, with a focus on due diligence and portfolio evaluation.

Earlier experience includes a Business Analyst position at DSM, identifying growth areas and scouting technologies, and founding the Caribische StudentenVereniging, a non-profit supporting Dutch Caribbean students in the Netherlands. 

William’s educational background includes a Master of Science in International Finance from the University of Amsterdam and a Master’s degree in Management from Antwerp Management School. Moreover, he also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Management and an Associate’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Nora Bavey: Unconventional Ventures – Sweden

Nora Bavey‘s journey into venture capital was unorthodox. She transitioned from a brand strategist to a tech entrepreneur, founding UNITECH, before becoming an investor. This shift followed her struggle to secure funding in Sweden while pregnant with her third child.

Related Post: Unconventional Ventures Reaches Second Close of Fund II

This struggle led her to launch Unconventional Ventures alongside Thea Messel. The Nordic-based venture capital firm is Europe’s first fund to invest solely in impact technology companies founded by diverse teams. They aim to bridge the funding gap for underrepresented founders, including women, people of color, immigrants, and LGBTQIA+ individuals, driven by the belief that entrepreneurship and ownership are powerful drivers of equality.

Bavey’s background as a refugee from Iran and a former tech founder who faced significant fundraising barriers shaped her mission to create a more inclusive ecosystem. Unconventional Ventures manages a €30 million fund with a strict mandate that 100% of portfolio companies have diverse founding teams, of which 82% are all-female or mixed-gender. 

Her work has been recognized with multiple accolades, including being named Sweden’s Investor of the Year, being named one of the 50 most influential in Tech (2022), and receiving the Kerstin Hesselgren Prize for her advocacy of diversity and inclusion. The firm recently closed its second $35 million (€30 million) fund, building on a successful first microfund of $168,000 (€125,000). 

Main Image: Christina Caljé

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