Color in Tech co-founder Ashleigh Ainsley has built his career around making the tech industry more accessible and inclusive.

From taking underrepresented students to Silicon Valley to driving an AI upskilling program estimated to have returned £1.1 million to the British economy, his work sits at the intersection of opportunity, education and capital.

As a venture scout working with Zeal Capital Partners, his investment thesis is clear: backing people from underserved communities who are transforming industries with innovative solutions. 

The Gap That Sparked a Life-Long Mission 

Ainsley grew up in Southeast London and studied Geography at Oxford University before building a career in tech. He started as a business associate intern at Google and later moved into the startup world. Across the companies he worked for, he noticed a clear lack of diversity in the industry.

“I was questioning why tech wasn’t as diverse as the communities it was serving… and it got to a point where I was just like, I think we should potentially do something about that,” Ainsley told UrbanGeekz in an exclusive interview. 

While working in the startup ecosystem, Ainsley met investor Dion McKenzie, who would become his co-founder. In 2016, a university approached the pair for help improving student employability in tech. Rather than building a profit-driven venture with the institutional funding, they launched Color in Tech. Today they are the U.K.’s largest not-for-profit focused on diversity and inclusion in the technology field. 

What began as mentoring and coaching students has grown into programs spanning policy, entrepreneurship and professional development. Backed by companies like Google, Netflix, Apple and Bloomberg, Color in Tech now counts roughly 60,000 members in its community.

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AI for Everyone: Closing the Digital Divide 

As AI rapidly reshapes the U.K.’s workforce, a lack of technical education is widening the skills gap. In fact, A 2026 report found that half of businesses in London say their workforce lacks the technical skills needed to keep up in the age of AI. This is where Color in Tech comes in. 

AI for Everyone was designed by Color in Tech to address unequal access to practical AI skills. Backed by Google and the Center for Public Impact, the program equipped underserved communities with applied, job-relevant AI capabilities. Their team went around the country, reaching 6 regions and over 300 learners. 55% of their enrolled students were women, and 61% of them were from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds. 

The results speak for themselves. Color in Tech found that 74% of participants reported improved job security or prospects, and over 25% secured a new role, promotion, or internship within six months. By learning to use AI for task automation, idea generation, and decision-making, students save an average of 3.28 hours per week. 

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From Education to Investment

With Ainsley’s longstanding career in tech and his extensive network, his next role came to him naturally. Barclays Bank and Zeal Capital Partners in the U.S. approached him to join them as a venture scout. Through the BPI Venture Scout Program, Zeal Capital democratizes access to capital by empowering the next generation of venture leaders. 

What makes Zeal Capital different is its inclusive investment framework. “Not enough founders are getting a fair shot – they’re not receiving the best resources, mentorship, and capital,” says Nasir Qadree, founder of Zeal Capital Partners. “Far too much innovation and genius are going untapped.” Zeal Capital treats inclusion as core strategy, not an afterthought, by backing founders where traditional venture firms often don’t look. 

Zeal Capital Partners has allowed Ainsley to take his mission further. Beyond making the industry more diverse, he’s now investing in the minority founders building its future.

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Ainsley’s Investment Thesis 

As an investor, Ainsley is particularly interested in the AI and B2B space. “All the sorts of business that I’m backing are really thinking about how we can now use a change in this fundamental technology to improve manual processes or do things that haven’t been done before, because they’ve been too timely or costly, or expensive,” Ainsley said. 

This year, he invested in Iridium, a B2B company using AI-driven infrastructure to optimize invoice management at scale. Founded by Anthony Eden, Iridium set out to modernize something as unglamorous as invoice management. 

Iridium acts as an automated operations engine that handles invoice verification, collections, and cash posting for businesses, streamlining receivables finance. Rather than building a frontier model, they focused on application-level AI to make businesses more efficient. 

Advice to Future Founders 

While AI has transformed the tech ecosystem, it has also lowered barriers for founders and entrepreneurs. “Previously we met a number of founders who were always looking for a technical co‑founder…Well, now you know you can build something on AI Studio, you can get your website built with like a few prompts, you can get Lovable to build something and put it onto the app store,” Ainsley told UrbanGeekz. 

The tools are there; with vibe coding platforms, you can build a product or website. With TikTok Shop, you can start a digital commerce business, and with WhatsApp you can build your community. These tools give founders a way to bypass traditional gatekeepers and launch without needing anyone’s permission.

For Ainsley, that access is the whole point. He is working towards a tech industry where opportunity isn’t gatekept but is open to anyone willing to try. 

Main Image: Ashleigh Ainsley 

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