Living Cities, a group of philanthropic foundations and financial institutions, has announced that Known, a minority owned asset management firm, will steward its $100 million Catalyst Fund III.

Living Cities president and CEO Joe Scantlebury said the investment is expected to confront and address underinvestment in underrepresented communities.

“Living Cities is proud to partner with Known as we work to enable the equitable and inclusive flow of capital investment. We understand from our 32 years of innovation that there can be no equitable or inclusive economic growth or development without an exponential investment in the genius, productivity, and drive of the growing BIPOC population,” Scantlebury said in a statement.

“Our joint venture with Known will help our philanthropic collaborative to scale, demonstrate impact to a wider audience, and challenge current narratives, assumptions, and practices that limit capital investment and hobble our nation,” he added.

The first round of funding, $38 million, was fully repaid in 2021. A $37 million Blended Catalyst Fund, which is supporting underinvested Black and racialized businesses, is still underway. Now, the recent announcement for the new series funding round will back up the previous two investments issued in the last two years.

“From the launch of Living Cities' first fund, the Catalyst Fund, in 2008, and with the continued evolution of our impact investing thesis through our second fund, the Blended Catalyst Fund, we have invested in innovative solutions to close the wealth and income gaps for BIPOC populations,” Demetric Duckett, managing partner of the Catalyst Fund III and former managing director at Living Cities, said in a statement.

“Our partnership with Known builds on that momentum, continues on the path of systemic change, and will allow our third fund, Catalyst Fund III, to leverage a private sector platform where it can scale and grow to actualize our vision of how the world should be.”