CG

Claude Grunitzky

Managing Partner at The Equity Alliance

New York, New York

Overview

Work Experience

  • CEO and Managing Partner

    2020 - Current

    Founded in 2021, The Equity Alliance invests in exceptional venture capital fund managers and startup founders who are people of color and women. By investing in undercapitalized diverse fund managers and founders, we are unlocking access to superior returns that the rest of the venture market continues to overlook. The Equity Alliance founders are Richard D. Parsons, Chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation; Ronald S. Lauder, Board Member of the Estée Lauder Companies; Kenneth Lerer, Benjamin Lerer and Eric Hippeau, Managing Partners of Lerer Hippeau; Eric Zinterhofer, Founding Partner of Searchlight; Scott Kapnick, CEO of HPS Partners; and Michael Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners.

  • Chairman

    2019

    Koosmik is a fintech startup headquartered in Luxembourg and operating in Togo. Koosmik has been developing innovative financial services for the unbanked in Africa. Through a mobile app Koosmik offers a free mobile-based platform that allows both individuals and professionals to hold and manage an electronic account, real-time money transfers, process any type of payment, access a large network of partners and participate in a loyalty program. Koosmik is building the next generation mobile wallet for Africa, tailored to young workers, students, entrepreneurs and businesses across the continent.

  • Hauser Leader, Visiting Social Innovator

    2017

    Harvard Kennedy School's Social Innovation and Change Initiative's mission is to develop research, pedagogical content, and educational programs that help students, social innovators, and organizations around the world, navigate the challenges of initiating and implementing social change.

  • Chairman and Editor-in-chief

    2015

    TRUE Africa is the media-tech platform for the next thinking on culture, music, sport, innovators, lifestyle, politics, fashion, film and business in Africa and the diaspora. We want to discover and champion young African voices through new technologies. TRUE is building the leading African media-tech company: TRUE Africa. Commissioned contributors include renowned African journalists, distinguished entrepreneurs, philanthropists and politicians, as well as the next generation of creators, commentators and cultural figures from the worlds of music, fashion, sport and art. Developed for the mobile generation, TRUE Africa is the most innovative technology-based media company focused exclusively on Africa. TRUE Africa is targeting a young, ambitious and upwardly mobile demographic in Africa and the diaspora. trueafrica.co

  • Owner/Chairman

    2002

    TRUE’s expertise as a transcultural content marketing company comes from the analysis and understanding of youth culture and social behavior globally. TRUE specializes in global storytelling. We help brands become publishers. Current and past clients on five continents include ABSOLUT VODKA, ENGIE, GRAND PALAIS MUSEUM, HILTON HOTELS, INFINITI, LEBLON CACHACA, LE COQ SPORTIF, LEVI'S, L'OREAL, LVMH, NATURA COSMETICS, NIKE, NISSAN, PUMA, SUEZ, TARGET, the GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES, FRANCE, TOGO, SENEGAL, GUINEA and BAHIA STATE in BRAZIL. Because we have accurate intelligence about fast-evolving transcultural markets — values, attitudes, behavior, trends and pre-trends—in the US, UK, France, Africa and worldwide, we tell our clients what’s really happening in the centers of influence, how to tell their story—and how authentic narratives can help to shape their business, outlook and projects.

  • President, Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation

    2017 - 2019

    The Watermill Center, overseen by the Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation, is a laboratory of inspiration and performance which provides a unique environment for a global community of emerging and established artists and thinkers to gather and explore new ideas together.

  • Chairman and Editor-in-chief

    1996 - 2010

    For more than 14 years, TRACE was a Transcultural Styles and Ideas magazine, a new expression in culture documenting the impact of the interconnected worlds of music, fashion, film, art, politics on today's multiethnic youth. Cover stars included Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Lily Allen, Common, Gwen Stefani and many other cultural icons.

  • Co-founder

    2002 - 2004

    Launched, with partners Richard Wayner, Olivier Laouchez and Goldman Sachs, the first multinational media company focused exclusively on producing, aggregating, distributing and promoting urban music and culture via digital media and special events around the world.

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