DENVER — The city of Denver has reached a settlement with an investment fund after the collapse of a project to support women and minority-owned businesses.
The city of Denver has agreed to pay the Domestic Emerging Markets Investments (DEMI) Fund for all of its outstanding invoices. The deal ends the relationship that was created to benefit small businesses owned by women and people of color.
In March, the head of the fund sued the city, alleging that Denver leaders cut off funding, leading to the “abandonment of minority and women-owned businesses through brazen acts of willful misconduct.”
The city and the head of the fund released a joint statement Friday morning celebrating their work together, which ended in acrimony in early 2024.
The trailblazing project, set up in 2022, used a portion of cannabis taxes to expand access to capital for diverse-owned small businesses in Denver.
In March 2024, DEMI Fund managing director and founder Danielle Shoots said the city of Denver wasn’t paying its bills and was damaging her reputation in the financial industry. Shoots said the city initially told her the cannabis tax fund was out of money, then accused her of shoddy recordkeeping to halt future payments.
Shoots sued for $800,000 in unpaid invoices. Shoots told 9NEWS she wanted an apology from the city and an audit of the program funds.
The statement released by the DEMI Fund and the city of Denver on Friday saluted their work together.
“Together with the DEMI Fund, Denver sought to try something new, enabling public investment in a venture capital vehicle with the goal of creating an evergreen investment fund for the benefit of Denver minority businesses,” the statement read in part.
“Creating something new is not easy,” the statement continued. “Denver remains committed to the work of growing and scaling businesses and building wealth in Denver communities and will continue to look for creative ways to partner with traditionally disadvantaged businesses.”
A city spokesperson said the settlement did not need approval from city council.