Niantic CEO John Hanke Teams selected by Niantic will receive five months of funding along with development and mentorship support as they build a playable prototype. Pokemon Go developer Niantic has created a program to fund projects from Black game developers. Teams selected for the Black Developers Initiative (BDI) will be provided with five months of funding, along with development and mentorship support as they build projects for the Niantic platform. "Increasing content that represents a more diverse view of the world is critical and central to Niantic’s mission to inspire people to explore the world together," Niantic CEO John Hanke said in a blog post.