Claude Grunitzky is CEO and Managing Partner at the Equity Alliance, a New York-based fund of funds that invests in venture capital firms and early-stage ventures run by women and people of color.

Born in Togo, Claude is also the founder of two media companies, TRACE and TRUE Africa. Over the past two decades, TRACE, which was funded by Goldman Sachs and successfully sold to European investors in 2010, has become one of the most popular youth culture media brands focused on Black culture. TRUE Africa is a Google-funded media tech platform championing young African voices and innovators all over the world. Claude also launched TRUE Africa University as a remote learning platform, which is currently incubated at MIT’s J-WEL (Jameel-World Education Lab), because he wants to help nurture Africa’s talent, those young people who will accelerate the continent’s sustainable development.

Growing up, Claude, who speaks six languages and carries three passports, was exposed to many different cultures. These foreign interactions shaped his transcultural philosophy and informed the creative energy of his ventures.

Claude is a graduate of London University and MIT, where he obtained an MBA as a Sloan Fellow. He is also a visiting social innovator at Harvard Kennedy School’s Social Innovation + Change Initiative, where he lectures, leads workshops, and helps graduate students develop business ideas for social enterprises. Claude is also an angel investor who has helped many young entrepreneurs launch their startups over the past decade. Claude sits on the board of Humanity in Action, a foundation that works internationally to build global leadership, defend democracy, protect minorities and improve human rights.