SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty-four hours. That’s how long it took SoftBank, the largest tech investor in the world, to spin up a $100 million Opportunity Fund last week that will invest exclusively in black start-up founders and other entrepreneurs of color.The size of the corporate fund, for which SoftBank will be the primary source of money, is tiny compared with the firm’s larger-than-life investments.
A few hours after SoftBank’s announcement, the investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, an early Facebook investor with $14 billion under management, announced its own initiative — the, which started with $2.2 million in donations from the firm’s partners and will focus on offering training and seed capital to entrepreneurs who “lack the typical background and resources.”