Fearless Fund’s headline-making deal after settling its lawsuit was a seven-figure investment in Zimi, an e-commerce logistics company. The investment closed in late September 2024, weeks after the September 11 settlement ended the challenge to Fearless’s Strivers Grant Contest. The contest closed, but Fearless continued pursuing its broader mission through investment, a small-business loan program and, later, a global initiative.
What was Fearless Fund’s big deal?
Fearless invested an undisclosed seven-figure sum in Zimi, a company co-founded by Audrey Djiya and Peter Nsaka. TechCrunch reported on October 11, 2024, that the deal had closed in late September and that Fearless declined to disclose the exact amount.
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Zimi provides inventory management, handling, storage and cross-border logistics to help businesses in emerging markets sell internationally. TechCrunch reported that Fearless made the investment from its second fund and had completed multiple investments that year; those were details reported at the time, not a statement of the fund’s current status.
What did the lawsuit settlement change?
The Strivers Grant Contest ended
The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) sued Fearless Fund and its nonprofit affiliate, Fearless Foundation, on August 2, 2023. The case challenged the Strivers Grant Contest, which offered grants of up to $20,000 to businesses majority-owned by Black women. AAER argued that the contest created a contractual relationship with applicants and violated Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which prohibits racial discrimination in contracting.
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A district judge initially declined to halt the contest. In June 2024, however, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction, finding that AAER had standing and that the contest was likely to violate Section 1981. That was a preliminary ruling, not a final judgment after trial.
The parties settled on September 11, 2024. Fearless permanently closed the contest rather than broaden its eligibility, as AAER had urged. AAER said it would not disclose information about legal fees; the public accounts cited here do not establish other financial settlement terms.
The settlement did not decide the law nationwide
Because the case ended in settlement, there was no final merits judgment resolving the dispute. The Eleventh Circuit’s preliminary ruling carries precedential force in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Courts elsewhere may consider it persuasive, but it does not bind them. The Council on Foundations has described the broader legal issue as unresolved nationally. This is legal background, not legal advice.
What Fearless did beyond the Zimi investment
It announced a small-business loan program
Fearless also announced a $200 million debt fund with a community development financial institution (CDFI) partner. The announced loan range was $5,000 to $250,000 for overlooked founders. Those figures describe the announced fund and loan range; the reporting does not establish how much capital was ultimately deployed. The CDFI partner was not named in the cited coverage, and it does not establish whether applications are currently open.
In 2024, CEO and founding partner Arian Simone told TechCrunch that Fearless remained focused on women of color founders and was considering companies in fintech, beauty and logistics. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in September 2025 that Simone was still running the small-business loan program.
It introduced a global initiative in 2025
At its first event since the settlement, held in New York in September 2025, Fearless debuted the Fearless Global Initiative. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Simone described the initiative as an effort to address funding gaps affecting the Black diaspora globally. She used “demographic equity” to describe matching the demographics of people receiving contracts, investment and funding allocations with the population. That is Simone’s framing, not a court finding or an established legal standard.
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How the firm’s plans and sponsorship changed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on September 23, 2025, that Simone had stopped raising a second venture fund because of the climate. It also reported her account that Fearless had three corporate sponsors that year, compared with her reported pre-lawsuit average of about 20. These are developments and comparisons attributed to Simone; they do not establish that the settlement alone caused the changes.
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