August is National Black Business Month, a time to recognize and celebrate the important contributions from Black-owned businesses. Last year, StartupSac crowd-sourced a list of Sacramento region Black entrepreneurs. Who else should be on the list? Shoot us an email at info@startpsac.org.

As we seek to celebrate, support, and amplify awareness of Black entrepreneurs, StartupSac and the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Sac State are welcoming Dr. Roshawnna Novellus as the featured guest at this Tuesday’s Startup Happy Hour. Dr. Roshawnna Novellus is the Founder and CEO of EnrichHER, a financial technology platform with regulatory approval to help women secure funding to grow their ventures. RSVP here — starts at 5 PM.

This is a great week to check out recordings of past interviews with Sacramento Black entrepreneurs, especially if you missed them the first time around! Check out A Discussion on Diversity in the Sacramento Startup & Tech Community (Sep 2017) and StartupSac Happy Hour with Nicholas Haystings (July 2020). For more stories of diverse and underrepresented entrepreneurs, click here.

What’s the landscape look like in Sacramento for startups?  In the second installment of TechEdge, the panel will discuss the new challenges and opportunities for startups in 2020, amid the pandemic and weaker economy. The panel of ecosystem builders and VCs includes Jack Crawford, Impact Venture Capital; Laura Good (me), StartupSac; Cameron Law, Carlsen Center at Sac State; Gina Lujan, Hacker Lab; and Lokesh Sikaria, Moneta Ventures, It’s Tuesday at 10 am; Use promo code “Startupsac” to save $10 off admission. RSVP here.

Plan Ahead

Closing the Tech Funding Gap: Creating Opportunity for Founders & Funders, Tue Sep 1 at 5:00 PM  Join the Carlsen Center to discuss the tech funding gap and learn how investing in under-represented tech startup founders can unlock millions of jobs and economic growth. The featured speaker is Mariah Lichtenstern, founding partner of DiverseCity Ventures and fellow at the Aspen Tech Policy Hub.

Missing connecting with other founders? Request to join the StartupSac Community Facebook Group, a place where startup founders and those who support the growth of our startup ecosystem can connect and exchange ideas.

There’s a lot more going on in the Sacramento Startup Community–check out the details in this week’s Startup Digest. There is now a section in the Digest for accelerators currently accepting applications.  If you want to submit items for consideration, use this link. And for even more startup information, happenings and resources, visit the StartupSac Website.