Bill Spruill has a new mission after $300M sale of his startup

Just months after selling his Raleigh technology startup, Global Data Consortium, for $300 million, Bill Spruill is using his newfound wealth to invest in the Triangle's entrepreneurs of the future.

Driving the news: He's started a new family foundation called 2ndF, which will seek to boost the Triangle's startup ecosystem through angel investing, grants and mentorship.

• 2ndF — an abbreviation for Second Foundation as well as a reference to the science fiction novel by Isaac Asimov — will focus on boosting minority involvement in the local tech scene.

Why it matters: With the sale of Global Data Consortium, a provider of digital identity verification, Spruill became one of the most successful Black founders in the Triangle's history.

• Spruill said he wants use his influence to ensure more people of color are leading tech companies and local startups in the region.

What they're saying: "We need to give others the opportunity to involve themselves in (the Triangle's tech) community," he told Axios. "As a minority entrepreneur, when I looked around, there weren't reference models for me in this community for people who did or have done what I did in the case of GDC."

State of play: Spruill has already written $600,000 worth of checks to local companies and organizations, he told Axios.

• That includes $100,000 for the Black Dollar Corp., an organization founded by Johnny Hackett Jr., which provides space and services to Black retail startups in downtown Raleigh.

The bottom line: Power brokers in the Triangle are often white males whose networks are often look the same. Spruill's success changed that, and will continue to do so for years to come.