Tampa Bay Wave and the Nielsen Foundation are teaming up to bring diversity to the startup world. Their partnership is a first-of-its-kind initiative to specifically target diverse startups for accelerators services. To kick off their accelerator, Tampa Bay Wave hosted a Tech Diversity Panel Tuesday at Rooftop 220 in Tampa.
Tampa Bay Wave defines diverse startups as 51 percent minority, woman, LGBT or veteran-owned. The panel included diverse players in the Tampa Bay tech scene: Joe Hodges of Care Valet; Crystal Barnes of Nielsen/Nielsen Foundation; Lakshmi Shenoy of the Innovation Hub at Channelside Bay Plaza; Lamont Robinson of Nielsen; and Tony Gray of SOF Technology Association.