Karla brings a decade of experience driving strategic decisions at the intersection of finance and public policy. At Candide, she is responsible for impact investing strategies across various asset classes and stages, all in service of creating a more equitable economy. Prior to Candide, Karla ran due diligence on marquee technology transactions in J.P. Morgan's Technology coverage group in the Investment Banking division. Karla also has extensive exposure to philanthropic and racial justice work, advising organizations such as Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiatives and Linkedin's Global Impact Team.

Mel is driven to holistically restore the balance and equity lost to extractive practices. Drawing on her experience in environmental management, finance, administration, and public policy, she's inspired by the abundant opportunities for capital to enable transformative impact.

Cooperative Energy Futures*

(CEF) is a Minnesota-based, member-owned energy services cooperative that builds community wealth through energy efficiency and clean energy solutions that are accessible to everyone. 

Translator*

is a technology-enabled 360° Platform For Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion.

Obran Collective

believes that everyone should own their most precious asset: their time. Obran is the first worker-owned conglomerate. Leveraging its portfolio of small businesses, the cooperative empowers its workers through ownership and education.

CleanFiber*

turns recycled cardboard into high-quality, low-cost cellulose insulation while reducing environmental impact.

Chingona Ventures

Chingona Ventures is a pre-/seed stage venture firm based in Chicago that invests in founders uniquely positioned to create businesses in often undercapitalized growth markets. Chingona invests nationally around its financial technology, female technology, education, and food/wellness themes.

Concrete Rose Fund

invests in early-stage (pre-seed to Series A) companies across all sectors, with a focus on financial inclusion, productivity software and future of work, sustainability, precision/predictive health, and direct-to-learner Educational Tech. 

Sparkfund*

Sparkfund powers organizations by providing access to the latest energy technology.

Firebrand PBC*

Born and raised in the East Bay, Firebrand is committed to serving the community both as an employer and as a local artisan bakery. Firebrand is committed to hiring formerly incarcerated and homeless people. The investment was designed to include workers in profit sharing alongside investors, and to transfer partial ownership of the company into a Purpose Trust to ensure long-term mission preservation. 

Impact America*

IAF II is a $55M fund, raised and led by Kesha Cash, one of the most significant funds raised by an individual Black woman partner. IAF II makes early-stage investments in tech-driven businesses that create new frameworks of ownership and opportunity within marginalized communities.

Ultranauts*

provides onshore quality engineering and assurance services to F500 enterprises, hyper-growth startups, and top-tier digital consultancies. Their cognitively diverse teams, 75% of whom are on the autism spectrum, are uniquely equipped to improve data and software quality across a wide range of industries undergoing digital transformation.

Mission One

is a thematic investment group, backing startups that solve problems deemed to be “mission-critical” to meet the challenge of climate change. Our focus is to support companies capitalizing on this inflection point to secure our generation’s sustainable future.

Spruce Root

Headquartered in Juneau, Alaska, Spruce Root's mission is to improve access to capital for the historically underfunded region of Southeast Alaska. Historically rural, low-income, and Native, Spruce Root serves 23 communities, providing access to lending and specialized resources to help address the unique challenges of business in Alaska.

Port of Africatown

Port of Africatown is a 501(c)(3) community development corporation (CDFI) created to grow opportunities and trade in the Africatown region. Just three miles away from downtown Mobile, Alabama, it was founded by the 32 people brought there on the last known illegal shipment of enslaved people to the US. Maintaining much of their Ewe, Fon, and Yoruba traditions into the 1950s, Africatown is a unique place in the US that has struggled to maintain its historicity in the face of a growing Mobile.

Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation

The Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation (FAHF) is a non-profit organization and CDFI whose mission is to promote education and self-sufficiency through economic development strategies that strengthen Latinx communities. For almost 20 years FAHF has supported thousands of business owners of color to receive no-fee or low-cost bilingual services for every stage of the business cycle.

Historic District Development Corporation (HDDC)

HDDC is one of Atlanta’s oldest surviving community development corporations and the only non-profit organization specifically dedicated to preserving the availability of affordable housing in the Old Fourth Ward district. For nearly four decades, HDDC has been a catalyst for equitable urban revitalization in Atlanta.

Raven Indigenous Capital Partners

Bringing flexible patient, capital to invest with innovative, scalable, purpose-driven Indigenous social enterprises in Canada and the United States who are at an early-and-growth stage. 

Nexlegacy

Nexlegacy is a construction company that provides services to communities in the Deep South impacted by natural disasters, specializing in residential and commercial reconstruction. Many of the communities affected by climate change in the US are primarily Black and Brown neighborhoods, and it is Nexlegacy's mission to bring that representation to the reconstruction and recovery efforts in historically extracted areas.

Impact Engine

Impact Engine Ventures II is dedicated to supporting and scaling early-stage software companies that improve economic empowerment, education, environmental sustainability, and health. 

Urban Tilth

Urban Tilth inspires, hires, and trains local residents to cultivate agriculture, feed our community, and restore relationships to land to build a more sustainable food system, within a just and healthier community.

Bitwise*

Bitwise Industries created a bridge between humans from marginalized communities and stories of systemic poverty to skills and resources necessary to access opportunities in the tech industry. NOTE: As of earlier this summer, Bitwise is no longer in operation, and Candide Group has been monitoring developments closely. We encourage our community to support the talented people of Bitwise’s former workforce with employment opportunities and other resources across the US with employment opportunities and resources.