Amazon Announces $150M Funding Effort for Underrepresented Groups
Amazon launched Amazon Catalytic Capital, an initiative to invest $150 million into venture capital funds, accelerators, incubators, and venture studios that provide funding to entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds, mostly at the pre-seed/seed stage of venture capital funding, it said Wednesday.…
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The company, which will invest in funds that focus on Black, Latino, Indigenous, women, and LGBTQIA+ founders, expects to support more than 10 funds and over 200 companies through the next year. In another initiative, Amazon last week committed close to $1 billion over the next year to higher wages for U.S. operations employees, saying it's raising average hourly pay for employees in customer fulfillment and transportation from $18 to more than $19; the wage scale is $16-$26 per hour depending on position and location. It also expanded its wage access program, Anytime Pay, to all employees in the U.S. operations, corporate and technology networks, giving employees access to up to 70% of their eligible earned pay, “whenever they choose and without fees, with the goal of putting employees in control of their pay schedule,” it said; staffers previously received regular pay once or twice monthly. The company is also investing in new skills training and wage access programs, formally adding Amazon Intelligence Initiative, a career advancement program designed to place employees in engineering roles within Amazon Web Services, it said.