Minority-Owned Emerging CDFI Brings Community Financing into Fintech and Web3

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA – Conscious Markets LLC (‘Conscious Markets Group’, ‘CMG’) has launched a $12 million seed financing round to bring community financing into the quant and fin-tech era. Conscious Markets is a for-profit, minority-owned community investments startup, founded by a diverse management team with 60+ years of quant, investment management, investment banking, NGO, and technology experience with leading firms including J.P. Morgan Chase, Citibank and IBM (including over 30 patents). 

Conscious Markets seeks to address the persistent funding disparities by race, gender and location that exist for early-to-medium stage companies, through technological innovation and sustainable and efficient financing options. The company chose a for-profit structure to retain ownership of proprietary and shared industry technology assets. The company seeks to obtain Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) certification with the US Department of Treasury, which will provide access to significant low-rate capital. In the pandemic, they allocated CDFIs over $10 billion in federal restricted funds to lend out. 

In March 2022, Conscious Markets announced it was well on its way to obtaining CDFI certification and implementing its growth narrative; having secured admission to the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs (AAACDFI.org) Emerging Manager Program. The AAACDFI is a coalition of 56 Black-led CDFIs committed to the support and growth of underserved communities. This milestone amounts to meaningful support in Conscious Market’s goal of receiving a CDFI certification within the next 12 months.

Website: ConsciousMarketsGroup.com

When asked how technology improves impact outcomes and financial return, CMG management replied, “We use a Social Return on Investment (SROI) framework that has existed for over 60 years as an area of conceptual investment research. We customize this with an efficient frontier and quantitative approach that turns feedback from deal, community or project and financial counterparties into social and financial return benchmark(s) for performance evaluation. By advising our companies on how to be better stewards of data, we can reduce risks and help companies scale”. 

Conscious Markets matches portfolio companies with Venture Advisers and Community Advocates that provide feedback and technical assistance. The company intends to launch a Community Advocates Network, made up of leaders from the local communities in which it invests.

Conscious Markets employs a strong corporate governance structure that promotes transparency and checks and balances. Unlike most private investment companies,CMG maintains bylaws, an advisory board, and committees for operational and investment approvals. The company bylaws designate third party compliance, as well as semi-annual independent loan reviews, and the company has received a satisfactory proposal from a compliance firm for ongoing compliance policy audits and approvals. 

For CMG’s executive summary and investment deck, please visit ConsciousMarkets.Pitchpages.io.

For CMG’s full data room and more, interested accredited and institutional investors should contact its Executive Assistant at [email protected], or call (910) 722-9615 to schedule a meeting with leadership today.