Venture capitalists invest in ideas and new businesses that have potential. Small business owners can approach these individuals for financial assistance and business advice, as well. There are a ton of influential and successful venture capitalists that have a knack for finding the best possible investments to leverage and build their portfolio. Here’s a list of 11 dope venture capitalists and founders that are taking the world by storm:

1. Charles Hudson

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Charles Hudson is one of the leaders at Precursor Ventures, a seed-stage investment firm that operates from San Francisco. This firm focuses primarily on B2B software, B2C software, and related hardware services so companies that develop solutions in these fields are more likely to catch Charles Hudson’s attention. Precursor Ventures is very active and aims to support a diverse range of entrepreneurs from different backgrounds.

2. Tristan Walker

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Tristan Walker is founder and CEO of Walker and Co. brands and is often present on the list of black founders with the most influence in the industry. The company develops products and services specifically designed for people of color. Tristan Walker is very influential, especially amongst young black entrepreneurs and the field of black tech startups.

3. Denmark West

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West is the chief investment officer at Connectivity Ventures Fund. He’s also a partner at Connectivity Capital Partners and is known for advocating diversity, especially in the field of technology. West has been an advisor at ventures like Code2040, StartUp Box: South Bronx, Culture Shift Labs, Starter League, and the national #YesWeCode initiative.

4. Shauntel Poulson

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Poulson is a partner at Reach Capital, which supports companies focused on improving access to education and resolving issues reacted to accessing it. She’s also a board member of companies like Tales2Go and CodeNow. The former aims to improve literacy while the later teaches computer programing to underrepresented high-school students.

5. Monique Woodard

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Woodard is a partner at 500 Startups, which is a company focused on investing in black and Latino establishments and ventures. She is often considered one of the top black investors and has more than 15 years of experience in the consumer, civic, and e-commerce tech industries.

6. Angela Benton

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Benton is the founder and CEO of NewME Accelerator, a company dedicated to assisting underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs all over the world. Ever since its launch in 2011, NewME has accelerated over 200 startups with the help of highly effective two-week programs. Benton was honored and recognized by Goldman Sachs as one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs. She is one of the most recognized black founders with startup ventures.

7. Michael Seibel

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Seibel is now a partner at Y Combinator and also handles the role of the CEO. Before gaining this post, he was the co-founder of Justin.tv, which later became Twitch and Socialcam, which was later sold to Autodesk. Needless to say, Seibel has ample experience when it comes to launching successful ventures. Y Combinator is well-known for making early investments in successful ventures like Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, etc. Seibel is well-recognized as a part of the successful black investor's group.

8. Brian Aoaeh

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Aoaeh is a partner at KEC Ventures. Before that, he worked at Lehman Brothers in New York as a strategy analyst in global diversity and inclusion. He was also an analyst in group diversity at UBS AG in Stamford and also worked at Watson Wyatt Worldwide as a pension actuarial analyst. Brian has vast experience in investments, diversity, and how companies work. He looks for founders with interesting ideas at NYC and helps them.

9. Kanyi Maqubela

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Kanyi Maqubela joined Collaborative Fund back in 2011 as the entrepreneur-in-residence. This firm focuses on providing seed and early-stage financial assistance to technology companies and is based in New York City. He has even worked in Barak Obama’s 2008 campaign, which gives him a unique perspective. While he has left Collaborative Fund, he remains a venture investor on board.

10. Laurence Tooney

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Tooney worked at Comcast Ventures before joining Google Ventures. At Comcast, he focused on Catalyst Fund group that focuses on early-stage black tech startups. At Google Ventures, he works with consumer technology investments in the field of marketplaces, mobile messaging, and e-commerce. Tooney has held executive roles in a number of startups and world enterprises like Nike.com, etc, so he has a good level of experience in the industry.

11. Richard Kerby

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Kerby is responsible for recognizing and evaluating early-stage investments for Venrock. He has worked for the company since 2012. Venrock has been around since 1969 and it was built on the investment strategies and activities of the Rockefeller family. Before Kerby joined Venrock, he was a part of Institutional Venture Partners, which is a company focused on later-stage investments.There has been a rise in the number of black angel investors and African-American private equity firms over the years and that is largely thanks to the influential and successful founders and venture capitalists mentioned on this list.