Concord Announces $10M Impact Investment Initiative Focused on Underrepresented Communities in Music and Theater

Concord has launched a $10 million Impact Investment Initiative to deploy capital into projects, businesses and organizations in the music and theater industries that serve or are led by members of underrepresented and marginalized communities. As its first investment, Concord is announcing a partnership with global investment and innovation platform Techstars and its music accelerator program, of which it has been a member since 2018.

"The intent of this initiative is to do what we do best - provide access and support - and to invest incrementally in communities which historically have not had that access and support," commented Concord CEO Scott Pascucci. "In pursuit of this, we will be applying the same investment discipline and focus that have enabled our company to grow into the world's best and biggest independent music and theater company in less than a decade. We could not think of a better partner with whom to start this venture than Techstars Music and its thriving music accelerator program."

For its 2021 class and going forward, Techstars Music has pledged to a benchmark of 50% diverse CEOs and founders including people of color, women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, historically marginalized communities, indigenous people and military veterans. Under the terms of the pioneering collaboration between Concord and Techstars Music, Concord will commit a further seed investment of $30k into each of the companies in the 2021 annual Techstars music accelerator program that meets the criteria of Concord's Impact Initiative. Concord will also guarantee an ancillary investment to the first round of outside fundraising of up to $100k for each of those companies that match Concord's strategic goals and priorities. These amounts are in addition to Concord's annual investment in the Techstars Program.

"Techstars Music is thrilled to be the first investment of Concord's Impact Investment Initiative," said Bob Moczydlowsky, Managing Director of Techstars Music. "Concord's initiative will allow Techstars Music to provide even more access and support to entrepreneurs from or serving underserved communities, in complement to Techstars' recent public commitment to having 1,000 diverse startup CEOs participate in our accelerators by 2026. Our accelerator will run entirely virtually in 2021 - so the 10 companies we will select for investment will no longer be required to relocate to Los Angeles or travel to pitch their business. Combine this accessibility with our member's deep commitment to diversity and social justice, and we expect 2021 to be the most inclusive year of Techstars Music yet".