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BlackRock is an investment bank in New York that focuses on financial security, financial mobility, and financial services. The firm invests in debt, early-stage ventures, late-stage ventures, post-IPO, private equity, seed, series A, non-equity assistance, and pre-seed rounds. Its portfolio companies include New Fortress Energy, Drip Capital, and PointCheckout.
BlackRock was founded in 1988 in New York, by Susan Wagner, Larry Fink, Robert S. Kapito, Barbara Novick, Ben Golub, Hugh Frater, Ralph Schlosstein, and Keith Anderson. Fink, Kapito, Golub, and Novick had worked together at First Boston, where they pioneered the mortgage-backed securities market in the United States. The firm was originally known as Blackstone Financial Management.
In 1992, four years after its founding, the firm adopted the name BlackRock. By the end of 1994, the firm was managing $53 billion. The following year, BlackRock was acquired by PNC and added hedge funds to its products in 1996.
As of December 2022, BlackRock operates a total of 502 equity funds. BlackRock has had 112 exits, the most notable of which include Dropbox, Uber, WeWork, Airbnb, and Funding Circle. And as of 2021, BlackRock owns 7.50% of HSBC Holdings plc, making it the second single largest shareholder after Ping An Insurance.
In June 2022, BlackRock came under fire due to the firm's investment activity and governance practices that directly harm Black and Indigenous communities and people of color around the world. The firm supports the fossil fuel industry with nearly $260 billion in investments; it has invested more than $6 billion in civilian gun manufacturers and retailers; and more than $36 billion invested in military weapon companies.
