Village Capital's response to coronavirus

It would be an understatement to say that a lot has changed over the last month. Coronavirus has not only created new challenges, but also exacerbated deep systemic inequities – highlighting the need to support solutions to those problems.

Entrepreneurs provide the hustle, ingenuity and foresight needed in the response to a major crisis like this. Our team has been working for a decade to support impact-driven founders, and here's how we've been adapting and evolving over the past weeks:

Connecting investors with solutions-oriented entrepreneurs

We launched a directory of startups that are contributing solutions to the crisis through innovations in health care, economic resiliency, or other areas. The COVID-19 Coalition, our initiative with Sorenson Impact Foundation, is a coalition of entrepreneurs responding to COVID-19, and investors actively looking to support big, urgent ideas. You can join today.

Accelerating entrepreneurs solving COVID-19 challenges

We’re doubling down on our efforts to ensure that entrepreneurs working on impactful solutions to the problems exacerbated by COVID-19 are receiving the support they need to scale. As a result, we’re continuing to recruit for our upcoming accelerator programs and moving our workshops and programming to interactive virtual formats.

Currently, as part of our Finance Forward initiative with MetLife Foundation and PayPal, we’re looking for startups who are helping tackle issues related to financial health and resiliency, particularly for those most vulnerable to the fallout for COVID-19. You can find out more and apply here.

Sharing resources for entrepreneurs 

We're inspired by the way founders, advocates, investors, and supporters have rallied to help startups navigate through these uncertain days. We’ve shared some of the resources, and will continue to update the list.

Backing alumni who are responding to the crisis

Our new blog series, Crisis and Innovation, shares the stories of startups responding to COVID and economic challenges:

• Rimidi is helping limit the spread of coronavirus in emergency rooms
• Edquity is providing emergency financial support to college students
• Worthy Financial offers a better bet than Wall Street during a volatile economy
• Sevamob is opening pop-up health clinics in rural India to treat more COVID patients.

How You Can Help

This crisis is breeding innovation – and if you’re looking for ways to join us in doubling down to back the entrepreneurs who are tackling this crisis, we have a few ideas:

• Consider funding our efforts to accelerate the work of finding, vetting, and supporting the entrepreneurs that will help us address the immediate and long term systemic challenges we face.
• Join the COVID-19 Coalition as an investor to back the work of entrepreneurs across the world that are addressing challenges stemming from the effects of the crisis.
• Partner with us as we build out a new initiative to provide support to the local accelerators and incubators that help entrepreneurs across the country get access to the resources they need to join and scale. Find out more by emailing our partnerships team here.

Thank you to everyone in our network for your continued support – and to the entrepreneurs who are continuing to build a better future every day.