Candice Matthews Brackeen (left), General Partner at Lightship Capital, and Margaret Trimer, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana
$1.8 million partnership drives entrepreneurship, equity, inclusion
Interview with CANDICE MATTHEWS BRACKEEN
General Partner | Lightship Capital
What attracted you to Detroit when deciding which cities in the Midwest would be a fit for your programming?
When we started talking about installing programming in other Midwestern cities, Detroit was at the top of our list. There’s a vibrant tech ecosystem with great companies across HealthTech, eComm/CPG and AI, which are our primary areas of focus for investing—so for us, it was a clear fit.
It also cannot be overlooked that Detroit is a ‘majority minority’ city where nearly 80% of the population includes citizens identifying as Black American. Programs offering underrepresented entrepreneurs access to mentorship, valuable networks, and really, organized guidance around scaling their businesses—are most necessary and likely to have a powerful economic impact here.
People in Detroit are building great things and there’s a great community of Fortune 500 partners for them to leverage, as well. We see this entrepreneur ecosystem as a frontier, full of underrepresented talent and possibilities ready to be realized—and we are grateful to Delta Dental and the city of Detroit for so warmly and excitedly welcoming us and our work to the city.
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