Dear reader,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Forum File. In this edition, we are highlighting one bank’s work to support underrepresented entrepreneurs.
We hope you enjoy reading this edition and please do not hesitate to share your feedback.
Kevin Fromer, President and CEO, Financial Services Forum
Penny for Your Thoughts
Selma Bueno is the Global Head of Morgan Stanley’s Inclusive Ventures Group
Tell us about the Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab and what makes it unique.
The Morgan Stanley Inclusive Ventures Lab was launched in 2017 to advance a more equitable investment landscape. We run a five-month accelerator program for founders of technology and technology-enabled startups in the seed to Series A funding round stage to develop and scale their businesses. In 2021, we expanded the Lab from North America to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, enabling us to support even more innovation and inclusion globally.
What makes our program unique is its holistic approach to supporting portfolio companies. We invest $250,000 in each business, as well as provide a tailored curriculum, mentorship, networking, office space for the duration of the program and access to external advisors.
To date, 92 companies, with a combined valuation of $923 million, have been through our accelerator program. The founders have collectively raised over $200 million in additional funding since their participation in the Lab.
How does the Lab’s work align with Morgan Stanley’s Core Values?
At Morgan Stanley, we are guided by five Core Values: do the right thing; put clients first; lead with exceptional ideas; commit to diversity and inclusion; and give back. I am proud to lead an initiative that integrates each of our values.
The Lab was created to help shift the investment landscape and level the playing field for underrepresented entrepreneurs because it is the right thing to do, both for the founders we support and for the marketplace as a whole. By spotlighting innovative companies and giving them the platform and network they might need help accessing, we are driving innovation in business broadly.
Our Lab’s cohort companies receive the full suite of Morgan Stanley resources and an ecosystem of internal and external partners to provide much-needed investment and guidance – as any client would. In connecting the founders with mentors and with one another, we are building a community in which previously overlooked entrepreneurs can succeed.
Can you tell us how some of the Lab companies are driving inclusivity in the marketplace themselves?
Many of our founders are leveraging their diverse backgrounds and communities’ values to address important gaps in the market and, in turn, advance a more equitable society.
Some companies are working to tackle the critical issue of inequity in healthcare, like Health in Her HUE, which connects Black women and women of color to culturally sensitive healthcare providers and MedHaul, an online marketplace for healthcare providers to book non-emergency medical transportation for patients, based on their special needs.
In the education tech space, imagi is using proprietary, inclusive education tools to empower kids to code, increase engagement among girls and help close the gender gap in tech early on.
And Zirtue, a relationship-based lending app that simplifies loans between friends and family, is making it easier than ever for people to access funds by tapping into the power of community support.
What all of our cohort companies have in common, regardless of industry or product offering, is the founders’ innate desire to build a better world.
Value Add
The Inclusive Ventures Lab Demo Day is our annual showcase where founders can put all they have learned in the accelerator program to the test and raise their profiles with potential investors, business partners and customers.
We hosted our ninth Demo Day in February for our largest audience yet of portfolio companies and potential investors. The investment firms in attendance represented over $40 billion of dry powder and indicated a high level of interest in the startups following the event.
This latest showcase emphasized both market connectivity, with AI and sustainable solutions as cross-cutting themes, and the sheer range of innovation in our Lab, with companies representing industries such as healthcare, customer service, supply chain, recruiting and cybersecurity.
In today’s challenging funding environment, it is incredibly important that we can provide our participating founders with the opportunity to attract capital, expand their networks and bring their game-changing products to scale.
Capital Gains
What we’re doing in Washington
Forum Chief Economist Sean Campbell testified before the House Financial Institutions and Monetary Policy Subcommittee on the need for greater transparency in the stress testing process. “Aligning stress tests with the public process afforded other bank regulatory standards would help improve public trust, promote economic stability, and ensure banks can support the economy to their fullest potential,” Dr. Campbell told lawmakers. Read Dr. Campbell’s full testimony here and learn more about stress testing here.Forum President and CEO Kevin Fromer issued a statement in response to the Federal Reserve Board’s 2024 stress test results. “The results affirm that the additional capital requirements in the Basel III Endgame proposal are not justified,” Fromer said.
The Forum submitted a comment letter on the proposed revisions to the methodology for capital surcharges for Global Systemically Important Banks to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. “Financial regulations that are not appropriately calibrated result in an inefficient financial system that misallocates capital in a way that can have a detrimental effect on the businesses and households that our member institutions serve, and on the U.S. and global economies as a whole, with no clear corresponding benefit to the resilience of the financial system,” the Forum said.
Our Two Cents
Research from the Forum
The Forum released its latest data on the value and strength of the nation’s largest banks.
Checking the Balance
Members in the News
The Bank of America Boston Marathon Official Charity Program raised $45.7 million, contributing to the marathon’s record total of $71.9 million in charitable funds raised this year. The funds went toward nearly 160 non-profit organizations in the Greater Boston community.
BNY introduced its new brand name and logo. The updated brand marks the firm’s evolution from America’s oldest bank, formerly known as BNY Mellon, to a global financial services leader.
Citi Global Perspectives and Solutions published a new report on AI & Finance: Bot, Bank & Beyond. The report analyzes the role that artificial intelligence might play in changing the way both consumers and companies bank.
Goldman Sachs commemorated the 25th anniversary of its initial public offering. The firm’s leaders from past and present convened to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
JPMorgan Chase announced an $8.45 million philanthropic commitment to nonprofit organizations and programs across the city of Baltimore to support economic and community development. The funding addresses residential vacancies to stabilize the affordable housing supply, supports commercial corridor revitalization, and promotes small business growth.
Morgan Stanley Foundation announced an $8 million grant over four years to Feeding America to support the establishment or expansion of child and family feeding programs. Since 2009, Morgan Stanley’s funding for Feeding America has totaled more than $50 million, helping to deliver more than 356 million meals to children and families.
State Street hosted its 2024 Markets and Financing Research Retreat. In collaboration with academic partners, guest speakers and strategists, the event dissected market trends, inflation, and other proprietary data-driven indicators.
Wells Fargo Foundation granted $600,000 to 100 Black Men of America, a youth mentorship organization. This grant helps expand the organization’s Junior Investment Club, a curriculum-based simulation game that introduces young people to investing.