Syncom Venture Partners

Terry L. Jones and Herbert P. Wilkins Sr. co-founded Syncom Venture Partners in 1977. Terry Jones has been the primary public-facing Managing Partner throughout the firm's history. The partnership has maintained its original leadership core across decades of fund vintages.

Syncom invests across early-stage and growth-stage companies with a concentrated focus on media, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure. The firm has historically targeted radio, cable television, broadband, and streaming ventures, with selective exposure to enterprise software and financial technology that aligns with its communications thesis.

Radio One, the publicly traded media company founded by Cathy Hughes, is Syncom's most widely recognized investment. The firm also backed the launch of TV One, the cable network targeting African American audiences that debuted in 2004. These investments anchor a broader portfolio of media and communications companies the firm has built over four decades.

Syncom Venture Partners is a fund manager that raises committed capital from institutional limited partners on a fund-by-fund basis. It is not a single-family office or a corporate venture arm. The firm has operated through conventional private equity fund structures since its founding.

Syncom is among the earliest Black-owned venture capital firms in the United States, founded at a time when minority representation in institutional investing was negligible. The firm has deployed capital into underrepresented founders for over 45 years, primarily through sector-focused media and communications funds, establishing a precedent for diversity-oriented venture strategies decades before the term became an industry allocator priority.

Syncom's investment thesis is sector-driven — media, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure — and the firm has consistently backed diverse founders as a function of the market segments and communities it knows best. It evaluates all opportunities on sector merit and return potential, not exclusively on founder demographics.

Syncom's sourcing relies on the co-founders' deep, multi-decade networks across the media and telecommunications industries. The firm's longevity and established track record in a historically undercapitalized segment have given it proprietary visibility into opportunities that generalist venture firms often overlook, particularly in radio, cable, and broadband infrastructure deals.