‘EQUITY LEAGUE’

Wisconsin Pro Sports Teams Create Investment Network for Black and Latino Entrepreneurs

The Packers, Brewers, and Bucks formed the new Equity League to combat unequal access to venture capital.

Wisconsin’s biggest sports teams announced an initiative Tuesday that will foster investment in Black and Latino-owned start-ups. The Equity League investment network—a collaboration between Microsoft, the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee Bucks, and the Milwaukee Brewers—was inspired by the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha. Over the summer, Blake was shot seven times by a police officer in front of his children. Blake survived but hasn’t been able to walk since. Mass protests against anti-Black racism and police-brutality followed the shooting, and all three major-league Wisconsin teams stopped play and practice for a day in solidarity. Only 3 percent of employees at venture capital firms are Black or Latino, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette. “Our goal is to invest in companies and founders that have strong potential to produce both significant financial returns and large-scale social impact,” said Israel Squires, the director of the newly formed Equity League.