Diversity VC Digest ☕🤑
Your (monthly) digest of all things DEI in venture capital (June’s edition)
Welcome to June’s Diversity VC Digest. Your take on all things diversity, equity and inclusion in venture capital. June has been a jam packed month, where we were proud to co-host our SuperVenture/SuperReturn LP/GP side event - ‘Chasing Alpha in a Changed World’ - with Partners Masawa Fund - very much worth reaching out to learn more about their pioneering ‘Nurture Capital’ approach - Next Sequence VC and BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. You can read more about Chasing Alpha in a Changed World here.
We want to hear how we can help connect you with this conversation, please do comment in the post and let us know. It was bolstering to hear discussions amongst institutional investors and fund managers acknowledging DEI as a Fund’s competitive advantage. This fundamental understanding allowed us to engage with tackling the problem through meaningful actions that we can all take to close gap on glaring market failures that must be addressed to secure a successful future for venture capital.
Be sure to sign up to the launch of the British Business Bank’s: Finding What Works: Pathways to improve Diversity in VC Investment, happening in London, UK, on 5th July.
We also had our inaugural Panel appearances at both SuperVenture: “The ‘E’ in DEI: is equity the key?”, and London Tech Week. The themes for both were well aligned to our refreshed approach, centring practices that can be implemented around fund governance and decision-making, that will increase diversity. There were some mixed reviews on whether true systems change would be possible, or indeed desirable given the fundamental nature of venture capital economics. Many thanks to our co-panelists; Elizabeth Clarkson @ Sapphire Partners, Judith Dada @
and Mark Sims @ British Business Bank, with ever excellent moderation from our friends Johannes Lenhard @
The positive momentum was not diminished as we headed to Paris where we were proud supporters of the SISTA Summit. SISTA’s message of gender equality and its very real implications for economic prosperity were out in full force, supported by the President of France no less!, and still as gut punching as ever (we highly recommend their content next time someone asks you “why diversity”?). You can read critical insights from the day from our Partners at Future VC here.
June has also been a month of reflection and refreshing our thinking here at Diversity VC HQ and we are looking forward to telling you more as we unveil new branding, new content and most importantly, useful resources to help you navigate and manage your own DEI journeys and ensure we are all set up for success. Tune in over the coming months to hear more about how you can get involved and make your voice count.
In the meantime, we are bursting with excitement as the first of that refreshed content will be launching in July with our very own ‘Diversity VC presents: Community Spotlights’!
🔎 A series of in-depth interviews to get to know key venture capital players. Those in the Diversity VC community who understand the positive power of DEI in investing and how they are using that to their advantage to remain on top.
🤌 Join us as we get to know the venture capital decision makers as you have never heard from them before. From what drives them and what moves them, to more personal insights, including the rules they live by, their favourite technology, and the legacies they want to leave behind.
👉 Connect with us on Linkedin to be sure to never miss a 🔦 Community Spotlight 🔦 straight into your feed: we cannot wait for you to read along and comment as each one drops!
👀 First one is an absolute treat...so many superlatives we could use, but suffice to say they are an industry legend in the making…👀
Policy trends
Level 20, with partners The Inclusion Initiative, launched their ACCELERATE Report, a new framework for implementing change in private equity for women.
Some companies have rather a lot of debt and this might be a problem.
SEC Files 13 Charges Against Binance Entities and Founder Changpeng Zhao. This is one in an escalating crackdown on the crypto sector that is spurring a lot of moves across the board.
Highly recommend listening in to Macrodose (be warned this is not a VC podcast) to understand the changing sentiment to VC investments and their classification; superb delineations into ‘Cloud Capital’, ‘Technofeudalism’, and new modes of production.
Diversity in venture news
Another female Partner leaves; one of very, very few operator turned VCs in Europe.
European VC female founders dashboard. Pitchbook shows venture capital funding overall has surged in recent years, but the numbers haven't leapt forward for female founders at the same pace. Last year, companies founded solely by women garnered just 0.9% of the total capital invested in venture-backed startups in Europe.
Crunchbase will begin tracking venture dollars allocated to LGBTQ+ founders.
Cultivating inclusion: Europe’s tech scene and the quest for diversity.
Teaching Entrepreneurship And VC Skills To Students Of Color And Women.
European VCs have warned that emerging managers that are too small to attract institutional investors will continue to have a tough time fundraising this year. At the SuperVenture conference, industry participants said that in a slowing VC market, differentiation could become an important component of attracting commitments.
Balderton’s Elodie Broad on why ESG is essential for startups. You can download their ESG for startup guide here.
Are “ESG Investors” underperforming? In short, no. Read more about the analysis showing PRI signatory status does not adversely impact Fund performance, here.
An SVB re-brand (hello, HSBC Innovation Banking), does not in itself diminish the “shudders” still being felt throughout PE, as PE-backed bankruptcies pick up. More here.
At the end of 2021, the impact investing market reached over $1 trillion in AUM, according to the Global Impact Investing Network, and the ecosystem has a number of private equity managers to credit for its expansion. In recent years, buyout players such as TPG, KKR and Bain Capital have raised multimillion- and billion-dollar funds dedicated to measurable social and environmental impact. More here.
As a reminder that VC operates, and reflects in large part, the world at large: Black people were three times more likely to receive Covid fines in England and Wales.
Funds and funding news
Black Seed, a British early-stage venture firm has raised £5 million ($6.2 million) as part of its inaugural fund to solely support Black founders in the region.ry. The round was led by asset manager M&G Investments, with additional support from Atomico and Molten Ventures. The firm is reportedly hoping to raise an additional £5 million to close the round. TechCrunch has more here.
Andreesen is investing in other VC funds for the first time. And in other news, also announced that it is opening an office in London. It plans to locate its next Crypto Startup School accelerator program in London next spring and will "work closely with UK universities to support the development of blockchain technologies and startups" per a statement to Business Insider. The move follows an escalating crackdown on the crypto sector that is spurring a lot of moves across the board.
Sequoia's three-way split brings abrupt end to global strategy.
Energy giant TotalEnergies powers down its corporate VC arm.
French VC firm Frst reaches $80 million first close of its new seed fund, with some critical participation by friends of Diversity VC and inclusive focus at Illusian.
N4 Partners Launches VC Fund for UK Startups.
Asia-Pacific VC and PE growth overtakes North America.
A succinct summary from Superventure here - tldr; .
Siena Secondary Fund acquired a stake in Polish scaleup Booksy. A sign of optimisim for the secondary market from Siena here.
PE firms saw an elevated number of portfolio companies filing for bankruptcy in the first five months of 2023. Perhaps, a sign of the chasm between early stage risk capital and its later stage counterparts, as optimism reigns supreme among VCs at Superventure.
New EIC boss wants bigger tickets for deeptech.
Community spotlights
We do not have any updates from the Diversity VC Members this month. But are cheering on some of the findings from Weekend Fund’s Emerging Fund Manager Report. A particular highlight is that 63% are current or former founders.
Following the rise of operator angels, we’re seeing the rise of operator fund managers. Founding a company builds a network that unlocks access to deals and LP capital. It also provides unique perspective and credibility into specific domains that can help these managers see and win deals. This trend is also driven by infrastructure such as AngelList which makes starting and managing a venture fund more accessible and cheaper.
Future VC
New roles for those in your networks looking for junior, including associate and intern, roles at VC Funds - be a guardian angel and share this link: Future VC Jobs Board
Want to post a role? Get in touch here.
Mark your calendars
D&I dates:
Disability Pride Month - July 1 - 31
International Non-Binary Persons Day - July 14
World Day Against Trafficking in Persons - July 30
VC Conference dates:
Let us know what we are missing!
Added value…
You can add the Diversity VC 2023 calendar for a list of the conferences and diversity & inclusion days for the year ahead: here
How to build your fund: Accelerating the next generation of gender-smart fund managers
British Business Bank’s Investing in Women Code helpful resources, including a link to the Diversity VC Standard
A Startup Guide to Facebook Ads in 2023
Finding the white hot centre: customer growth
How to do due diligence on your investors
When blind hiring advances DEI and when it doesn’t
The Carbon Clock - a live countdown, the MCC Carbon Clock shows how much CO2 can be released into the atmosphere to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C and 2°C, respectively.