Candice Matthews Brackeen

Candice Matthews is a General Partner at Lightship Capital, where she finds and funds high-growth, minority-led companies operating in underserved ecosystems throughout the Midwest. Launched in 2020, Lightship Capital is raising $50MM for investment into underrepresented founders operating in the CPG, E-Commerce, Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, and Healthcare spaces. Matthews is also the Founder and CEO of Lightship Foundation, the inclusion-focused entrepreneur enrichment program guiding minority founders with instruction in product development, brand building, leveraging artificial intelligence for business, and fundraising.

Matthews lends her strategic vision to Lightship’s founder-centric programming and events, including Lightship Accelerator, Lightship Bootcamp, and Black Tech Week. Her commitment to advancement and inclusion has most recently been recognized by organizations such as the Cincinnati Bengals (2022 Inspire Change Changemaker Award) and Doritos and Pepsi Co. (2023 Doritos Change Maker).

She expands upon her work driving representation in innovation with her role on the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium for NASA, where she leads diversity of thought as new cultures and economies are developed. She also sits on the advisory committee and selection committees for technology for the Ohio State University and Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center, ensuring that as technology is commercialized by these entities, diversity is at the forefront of decision-making.

Matthews also serves on the Cincinnati Innovation District Advisory Council and the Endeavor Northwest Arkansas Board of Directors and is a University of Cincinnati Kautz Uible Fellow.