Zeal Capital Partners raised $82 million for its third fund and plans to invest in 25 early-stage technology companies. Managing Partner Nasir Qadree joined The Enterprise Zone to discuss the new fund.<\/p>\n
Some moments truly last forever. For investor Nasir Qadree, that moment came in 2011 while overlooking midtown New York City in the high-rise office of businessman, corporate connector and political advisor Vernon Jordan. In the room, Jordan\u2014the former executive director of the National Urban League\u2014sat in a grey suit, surrounded by a plethora of photographs with close friends, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and the legendary entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.<\/p>\n
Sitting in front of Jordan, and eating a bowl of hot grits, Qadree asked why Jordan avoided the frontlines of the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s. Jordan\u2019s reply stuck with him: \u201cIf you truly want to be in a position of power and influence\u2014the boardroom is the way to go,\u201d Qadree, 40, says, recalling Jordan’s words.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat resonated with me,\u201d says Qadree, 40. The boardroom \u201ccreates opportunities to create pathways for the next generation and also disrupt systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Years after Jordan\u2019s death in March 2021, Qadree continues to apply the advice while also looking to disrupt the venture capital world. In June, Qadree\u2019s firm, Zeal Capital Partners<\/a>, closed on an $82 million raise for its third fund. With the money, Zeal will invest in 25 early-stage companies building enterprise AI software in education, financial, and healthcare\u2013commiting up to $2.3 million per company and requiring a board seat in each.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of deal flow and pipeline across these areas,\u201d Qadree tells Forbes.<\/p>\n Since its founding in 2020, Washington D.C.-based Zeal has raised a total of $186 million, with investors including Citi\u2019s Impact Fund, M&T Bank, MassMutual, and HBCU endowments such as Spelman College and Hampton University. Zeal now manages three funds, including Fund I, Fund II and Barclays Black Formation Investments. Zeal has also made investments in promising startups, such as Esusu, a fintech company cofounded by ForbesBLK 50 lister<\/a> Wemimo Abbey. Esusu helps renters build their credit histories and scores by reporting rent payments to credit bureaus. In 2022, the company reached a valuation of $1 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Additionally, Zeal is an investor in AI-hiring software company Humanly. This startup has a valuation of $66 million, according to data from financial research company PitchBook.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t call ourselves an impact investment firm,\u201d Qadree says. However, he notes that Zeal does use diversity management teams as a measuring stick when making investments. \u201cDiversity will always be part of our DNA. The data is very clear \u2013 it produces outsized returns.\u201d<\/p>\n According to investment firm Fairview Capital Partners<\/a>, there are more than 1,000 women or minority-owned private equity and venture capital firms in the U.S., and of those firms, 168 are Black-owned. In 2024, Fairview notes that Black-run firms have a median fundraising size of $70 million, down from $75 million in 2023.<\/p>\n Despite closing Zeal\u2019s third fund, Qadree acknowledges there are real headwinds in raising capital, including elevated interest rates, a slowdown in IPO markets, and global trading tensions. There\u2019s also the political landscape. As President Trump shredded Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives after retaking office in January, some businesses have reneged on their DEI plans and reduced allocations to impact-focused funds.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no handouts anymore,\u201d says Calvin Butts, co-managing partner of private equity firm East Chop Capital <\/a>and a Zeal investor. \u201cYou need to have great ideas and great relationships. You can\u2019t just have a good idea and be a bucket list (investment) for someone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll always be a Black investor,\u201d Qadree says, when discussing the matter. \u201cI think what matters the most, given our 50-plus companies on our platform, is showing the progress of those companies and the impact those companies are having to work their way to being category leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n A product of Southwest Atlanta, Qadree came of age surrounded by role models. He is the grandson of former NBA player Jackie Moore<\/a>, who played in the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors from 1954 to 1957. Qadree tells the story of a young Moore training an even younger Wilt Chamberlain during his high school years at Overbrook in Philadelphia. Chamberlain went on to become a Pro Basketball Hall of Famer<\/a> and one of the NBA\u2019s greatest players.<\/p>\n \u201cYou talk about motivation and where it all started,\u201d Qadree says, \u201cI credit my grandfather.\u201d<\/p>\n Qadree\u2019s mother worked as an administrative assistant, and his father was a real estate developer. Qadree credits his dad, Tony, for sparking his interest in business. A young Nasir often joined Tony at local holiday parties and performed the job of coat checker. It granted Qadree brief interactions with power brokers, including former Mayor of Atlanta Shirley Franklin, the late U.S. Congressman John Lewis, and Jordan<\/a>. \u201cThe who\u2019s who in business and politics,\u201d Qadree recalls. By 2008, after graduating from Hampton with a degree in marketing, Qadree started his career as a Goldman Sachs analyst. Two years later, he joined State Street Corporation.<\/p>\n Founded in 2020, Zeal has raised a total of $186 million, with investors including Citi\u2019s Impact Fund, M&T Bank, MassMutual, and HBCU endowments.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Zeal Capital Partners <\/p>\n Along the journey, Qadree also opened a coffee shop in New York City called, The Bees Knees Baking Company. Alongside two friends, they invested roughly $150,000 to start the operation. \u201cMargins were fickle,\u201d Qadree says. \u201cBut it was fun.\u201d However, working weekend shifts at The Bees Knees, Qadree discovered a passion for venture capital by being \u201crespectfully nosy.\u201d While cleaning tables, he listened to conversations between entrepreneurs speaking with potential investors. A curious Qadree started to inquire what the entrepreneurs were creating and how startups attracted funding.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of them were building projects that I cared a lot about,\u201d Qadree says, referring to the education and fintech ideas he overheard.<\/p>\n In 2015, Qadree sold his stake in the coffee shop, moved to Washington D.C., and started working for Village Capital as head of education technology. The stint led to running AT&T\u2019s Aspire fund. In 2020, he launched Zeal and closed on his first fund with investors, including Bank of America and PayPal.<\/p>\n \u201cZeal aspires to be a true catalyst for economic equity,\u201d Qadree said in July 2021 after raising $62.1 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Today, flush with new cash and aware of the headwinds facing venture capital, Qadree is betting on his Wall Street and entrepreneurial history to identify unicorn AI startups and founders that other investors ignore.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re truly going to democratize acts of capital and think about innovations that are turbocharging economic mobility,\u201d Qadree says. \u201cThere\u2019s also an opportunity to disrupt systems so that more folk can get a fair swing at the plate.\u201d<\/p>\n Capital Gains: Watch the interview to hear<\/a> Qadree discuss his vision for Fund II, lessons learned from failed investments, and how Zeal is returning capital to investors.<\/p>\n MORE FROM FORBESForbesMeet The Investor Betting Millions On \u201cDangerous Founders\u201dBy Jabari Young<\/a>ForbesInside The Largest Black-Owned Bank In AmericaBy Jabari Young<\/a>ForbesHow Former Apple Music Mastermind Larry Jackson Signed Mariah Carey To His $400 Million StartupBy Jabari Young<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zeal Capital Partners raised $82 million for its third fund and plans to invest in 25 early-stage technology…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[45,49,48,137,6653,166,61,6654],"class_list":{"0":"post-5760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entrepreneurship","12":"tag-forbesblk","13":"tag-nasdaq","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-zeal-capital-partners"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}