Madison-based venture capital fund gener8tor announced Friday it has received a B Corporation certification from the nonprofit B Lab. It’s a status achieved by only 1,700 for-profit global companies that have committed to upholding verified standards for social, environmental and governance practices.
B Corporation certification requires an in-depth review of a business’ social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. gener8tor joins the ranks of other B Corporation companies including Patagonia, TOMS, Ben & Jerry’s and Warby Parker.
“Our mission at gener8tor has always been to help communities invest in themselves by providing access to capital across race, place and gender and doing right by doing good. We see becoming a certified B Corp as a natural way to cement our commitment to that mission,” said Joe Kirgues, co-founder of gener8tor.
Through its startup accelerator programming, gener8tor has helped over 1,000 startups raise more than $1.4 billion in funding and create 9,700 jobs. Approximately 40% of those startups have women founders and 45% have founders of color – and 93% of them are based outside of major metro areas. gener8tor’s Skills Accelerator programming has helped 1,400 participants learn new job skills and placed 637 of them in new jobs, with an estimated average salary of $53,907.
“We are thrilled to join the global family of certified B Corporations,” said Chelsea Linder, partner at gener8tor. “We will use this certification to catalyze our business as a force for good. Completing the certification process provided us an opportunity to reflect on our organization as a whole and identify the areas where we can increase our impact moving forward.”
As part of the B Corp certification process, gener8tor updated its internal policies to heighten its focus on environmental sustainability and refined its onboarding and training processes.
