The NewME Accelerator program is getting more support as it heads towards its second class of founders, today announcing that it’s landed top venture firm Andreessen Horowitz as a sponsor/partner. Joining other backers, including Google, HP and Tagged, the firm will also provide mentors for companies, speakers at founder dinners, as well as connect top minority tech talent with its Talent Agency.
The program, operating out of San Francisco this year, describes itself as “a residential technology start-up accelerator/incubator for businesses that are led by under-represented minorities in the technology industry.” Its first class from last year is off to a good start (check out Alexia’s coverage of its Demo Day for more details). Although the program didn’t provide seed money, its first ten companies have collectively raised more than $600,000.
NewME has also been putting together a well-known mentor and speaker pool of entrepreneurs from tech and media. In addition to the current ones, it has recently added the following people:
- Thomas Knoll, Launchrock,
- Richard White, UserVoice,
- Michael Seibel, Socialcam,
- Hiten Shah, KISSmetrics,
- Sean Percival, Science
- Kevin Marks, Salesforce.com,
- Erik Martin, reddit.com
- Eric Ries, Lean Startup
And, from AH today:
- Ben Horowitz
- Scott Kupor
- Margit Wennmachers