Houston-based Ampersand raises nearly $2 million in pre-seed round, uses funds to 'balance' program

A Houston-based free virtual program that prepares college-age professionals for life-changing careers through curriculum, mentorship and internship placement has raised over $1 million.  

Ampersand recently raised $1.75 million during the pre-seed round and the money will be used to balance the program as the curriculum continues to make strides within the community. The company has announced that 27 people will be taking up internships across the nation.  

Houston-based company Curate Capital, a venture capital fund focused on investing in female-led businesses, facilitated the pre-seed round.

Ampersand's mission statement is "to democratize access to career-building opportunities, bringing meaningful internships, mentoring, coaching and basic professional-skills coaching to young professionals."

Allie Danziger, who recently transitioned from Integrate after 11 years to focus on the startup full time, founded the company. Danziger has a zeal for mentoring people and wanted to do something that would make college graduates tackle internships that would help them network and be better equipped for real-world job offers.

Danziger founded the company during the ongoing pandemic, but she has said, "I really believe that it scales way beyond this pandemic. There are no programs that help you determine what the right path for you is—to really do that self-exploration and then apply it to your career path."

Danziger added that the program’s objective was to help people from diminished parts of the city. 

"We're really focused on democratizing access to that first internship, which can be really hard for people in underrepresented communities who have all these student loans, don't have the opportunity to get an unpaid internship or the connection to get that first internship," Danziger said.