Crowdbacker 2025

Crowdbacker 2025: Backing Social Ventures Led by Entrepreneurs of Colour

Crowdbacker, Year Here's signature live crowdfunding event, is back for a very special collaboration with The Funding Network and Black Funding Network, hosted by Josh Babarinde, the first person of Black heritage to ever be elected to Parliament as a Liberal Democrat MP – and a Year Here Fellow.

We’re supporting incredible new social ventures led by entrepreneurs of colour to make a real impact. 🚀

Crowdbacker is for changemakers, entrepreneurs, and anyone passionate about driving solutions to society’s biggest challenges.

Why It Matters

People of colour face systemic injustices daily. From the lasting impact of COVID-19 to widening racial and economic inequalities and the aftermath of the far right riots last year, the need for change is urgent.

Entrepreneurs from ethnic minority backgrounds face persistent barriers, including limited access to funding, networks, and resources. The numbers speak for themselves: over the past decade, Black founders received just 0.24% of UK venture funding. Black female founders fare even worse. Meanwhile, more than 40% of seed-stage investment goes to teams from elite institutions like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Stanford.

Crowdbacker 2025 is here to change that.

Crowdbacker 2025 is about breaking barriers, championing ventures led by Black founders and people of colour, and fostering a more inclusive, equitable ecosystem for social innovation.

Join us at Crowdbacker for:

• Live Pitches: Hear from pioneering social ventures tackling pressing societal challenges.

• Fast-Paced Pledging: A chance to financially support ventures making a real, much-needed impact.

• Networking: Connect with a room full of brilliant, like-minded people.

• Delicious Food & Drinks: Enjoy Middle Eastern cuisine from Fat Macy’s, a five-star reviewed social enterprise, plus a selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks (included in your ticket). 

• Be Inspired: Engage with transformative ideas, support early-stage ventures, and contribute directly to the future of social innovation.

Plus, you’ll be supporting Year Here and its sister charity The Year Here Foundation to keep doing our important work. 

Tickets are £25.

About the Ventures 

The ventures pitching for your support are::

• Sandra Nwokeoha, Ellescope: revolutionising maternal care with smarter risk screening.

• Josh Falconer-Roberts, Solidarity Economy Toolkit: equipping communities of colour with solidarity economy tools for sustainable change.

• Liz Beh, Tresacare: caring for care workers through wellbeing programmes.

About Year Here

Year Here is a movement to abolish poverty and inequality in the UK through social enterprise. Since its inception, we’ve cultivated over 50 ventures, improving the lives of more than 60,000 vulnerable people.

The Year Here Foundation, our charitable arm, is dedicated to tackling systemic inequality in entrepreneurship through research and advocacy.

Your ticket fee will help us continue this important work.

Our Ventures

Year Here has a proven track record of championing diverse founders, With over 36% of our Fellows being people of colour, we're committed to championing diverse founders, many have launched ventures that have earned industry accolades and created lasting impact.

Join us for Crowdbacker to make a difference!

If, like us, you sometimes feel overwhelmed with the world’s problems, join Year Here’s Crowdbacker and be inspired by those taking action to fix them.

Reserve your ticket now - spaces are limited.

For more information, contact hello@yearhere.org.

We know people are busy, so if you can’t join us on the night but would still like to donate then click here to to stay in the loop.