(Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Thursday it had pledged another $500 million to help grow business owned by Blacks, Latinos and women under Launch with GS, a program it started three years ago to close the gender investing gap.
The investment bank’s latest pledge comes barely a week after it said it would invest $10 billion over a period of ten years as part of another initiative to support Black women, focusing on areas including healthcare, job creation and education.
Under Launch with GS, Goldman said it had invested more than $450 million of the $500 million it had previously promised
in a number of companies, including BentoBox, which offers websites for restaurants, and lease accounting software provider LeaseQuery.
The initiative, which originally allowed clients to invest directly in companies or provide seed capital for women starting their own funds, was later expanded to include people of colour.
JPMorgan Chase & Co also pledged another $350 million last month to help grow businesses owned by Black, Latino and women, as part of a broader effort at the bank to help close the U.S. racial wealth gap.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
