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Founding Members 501CTHREE, ABRT VC, Cleveland Avenue, Lockstep Ventures and Others Kick-start Network of Investors Created to Support Startups with Emphasis on Impact Innovation

The LG Electronics North American Innovation Center, LG NOVA, has created a network of potential investors to support business creation and innovation development for startups.

 In partnership with 21 founding member firms, including 501CTHREE, Cleveland Avenue, Lockstep Ventures, Marcena Capital and SDG Impact Fund, LG is launching the NOVA Capital Alliance. Its mission is to help drive business success for startups that strive to create solutions for some of the biggest challenges facing the world and build a better future for all. Lockstep Ventures was the first VC fund to join the NOVA Capital Alliance.

The formation of the NOVA Capital Alliance is the next step in developing a broad program to grow these businesses and catalyze disruptive innovations that will set the pace for a better, more connected future. The network of potential investors will receive access to startups chosen for LG NOVA’s Mission for the Future Challenge at ground level, as LG NOVA works with them to jointly build new businesses and accelerate market success.

“With the global reach of the LG network, we are moving quickly to utilize our resources to develop solutions that will help us create a more sustainable, accessible and overall better world,” said LG Electronics senior vice president for innovation Dr. Sokwoo Rhee, head of LG NOVA. “We started this process of creating an investors’ alliance with Lockstep Ventures, which has now grown to a broad network covering family offices, donor-advised funds, ESG, and venture funds. As this group expanded, our aspiration for the NOVA Capital Alliance has not changed. We believe that investing in diversity and divergent thought leads to innovations that meet the needs of our global and distinct communities. We’re excited to begin our work with the support of this broad alliance.”

Sokwoo Rhee from LG NOVA with Marcus Glover, Sakyi Odura, Bonin Bough from Locksteps Ventures

“At Lockstep Ventures, we're committed to underrepresented founders who are often overlooked by traditional venture capital funds. We found a synergy with LG NOVA as we both believe in not just simply writing a check and hoping for the best. We roll up our sleeves and dig in with the entrepreneurs we invest in to maximize whatever they need to scale and grow,” says Bonin Bough, co-founder of Lockstep Ventures. “The opportunities for our partnership with LG NOVA, which has the backing from LG as a large organization, are endless. We're excited to join the NOVA Capital Alliance to focus on investing in companies that are creating truly economically viable solutions.”

LG NOVA’s Mission for the Future 2021 Challenge is a 6-9 month program focused on the areas of Connected Health, Energizing Mobility, Smart Lifestyle, the Metaverse and Innovation for Impact. The announced “First 50” companies provide a range of solutions: from AI in healthcare to advanced monitoring for healthy at-home solutions; from retail technologies for the metaverse to digital world creation technologies; from electric solutions for a wide variety of vehicles to environmental monitoring solutions; as well as solutions for diverse populations, such as seniors and those living with disabilities and mental illness.

Current Founding Members of the NOVA Capital Alliance:

501CTHREE is a non-profit dedicated to developing tech-driven solutions to climate change.

ABRT VC is a family of companies building a new venture capital system. The firm integrates analytics, technologies, and capital to transform how innovators create products, get funding and grow their businesses.

Cleveland Avenue, LLC, founded by Don Thompson, the former President and CEO of McDonald’s Corporation, is a venture capital firm that invests in lifestyle consumer brands and technology companies that positively disrupt large and growing markets.

City Light Capital is a venture capital firm that invests early in impactful companies.

Commonweal Ventures is an investment firm that offers a unique combination of venture financing and political capital to early-stage companies advancing sustainability, upgrading our energy, transportation and water systems, and revitalizing the urban environment.

Dear Mama Fund is an early to late-stage investment platform deploying financial, social, and intellectual capital to Black, brown, female, and veteran-led companies that are solving some of the world’s most challenging problems.

Evolution Equity Partners invests in rapidly growing cybersecurity and enterprise software companies that safeguard our digital world.

Investors of Color is an ecosystem of Black, Latinx, and Asian accredited investors to close the racial funding gap in startup capital.

Lockstep Ventures is focused on addressing racial inequities in venture capital investments.

Marcena Capital is an FCA-regulated investment office active in Property, Real Assets, and Private Equity Investments.

MDARG Sports Foundation’s purpose is to better the community, individuals and economic stability through the global activity of sports.

Nextwave X Partners is a thematic investment firm focused on bringing new capital to the next waves of innovation.

SDG Impact Fund is a global catalytic capital and impact organization that administers donor-advised funds, endowments, and trusts aligned with the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

SGI Partners is an operationally-oriented private equity firm that invests in TMT, Industrials, and Healthcare businesses with measurable social or environmental impact.

Sopris Capital is a twenty-year-old venture capital firm investing in fast-growing early-stage healthcare tech, healthcare services, and B2B technology companies.

Silicon Valley Blockchain Society (SVBS) is a private venture investment platform for maximizing venture stage portfolio mechanics.

Start Co. is a venture architect firm that supports clients and partners with a design process for launching early-stage technologies, business innovations, and economic solutions.

Strand Group is a financial advisory service for Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized companies and family offices.

United Cities Funds is a global donor-advised fund and global catalytic capital platform dedicated to uplifting 10,000 cities globally to achieve Net Zero prosperity and meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, with absolutely no one left behind.

Wynn Point Financial is an asset management firm that challenges conventional wisdom in investing and preserving wealth. Specialties include development, implementation and quality control; its core investments center around humanitarian endeavors.

X17 Labs is an investor network and solution center for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on gender equity.

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