DVC Digest: July – From Data to Action

Jul 08, 2025

July has brought us peak summer vibes ☀️ and some fascinating developments in our ecosystem. As we cruise through the midpoint of 2025, we're diving into the UK DSIT's latest analysis of diversity in venture capital and, more importantly, turning their findings into actionable insights (because data without action is just expensive wallpaper! 📊).

We're also excited to introduce a new section featuring job opportunities from our members—because nothing says summer networking like helping amazing people find their next adventure. Plus, the usual goodies: ecosystem updates, future events to mark your calendars, interesting reads to fuel your beach/commute reading, and spotting the DVC team in the wild.

Let's make July the month we build better teams and crack the code on what really drives performance! 🚀

This month’s newsletter includes:

DVC Digest Spotlight: The Data Foundation: Building Better Diversity Intelligence in UK Tech
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Open Roles, Open Doors
Diversity VC in the Wild
What we’re reading/listening to

Read time: Approximately 10 minutes

DVC Digest Spotlight: The Data Foundation: Building Better Diversity Intelligence in UK Tech

The UK Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) recently released a comprehensive analysis showing persistent diversity challenges across the British tech industry. While the ‘Diversity in UK Tech’ report effectively highlights representation gaps, particularly in leadership and progression, it reveals a critical need for more actionable solutions.

The opportunity lies not just in understanding the problem, but in building systematic solutions. The Diversity Data Alliance framework offers a practical approach to transform how the sector collects, analyses, and acts on diversity intelligence, with a UK-focused edition in development for later this year.

Five Ways to Build Strategic Diversity Intelligence

Establish Industry-Wide Data Standards
Create unified standards for how companies collect and categorise DEI data, ensuring consistent definitions across the sector. This should align with ONS frameworks where possible, but go further to include industry-relevant metrics like representation by seniority level, pay band, and contract type. Consistent standards enables meaningful benchmarking and eliminates ‘data silos’.
Enable Secure Data Collaboration
Build secure platforms where companies can share anonymised diversity data without reputational risk. Small startups often avoid publishing figures due to identifiability concerns in tiny teams. Secure aggregation enables safe participation while building richer sector-wide datasets for reliable benchmarking.
Track Performance Over Time
Replace annual static reports with continuous tracking across the employee lifecycle: recruitment, retention, progression, and exits. This reveals not just ‘who is in the room’ but who stays, who rises, and why people leave. Moving from snapshots to storylines shows whether interventions actually work over time.
Create Participation Incentives
Link diversity data reporting to meaningful incentives like funding access, procurement opportunities, or industry recognition. This ensures broad participation beyond just well-resourced companies, creating statistically meaningful datasets that represent the entire sector rather than skewing toward larger firms.
Democratise Data Insights
Invest in tools that transform raw data into actionable insights through dashboards, benchmarks, and best practice guides. Make these freely available so every tech firm, not just big players, can make evidence-based improvements to hiring, progression, and retention. This turns data into a lever for measurable progress, not just tick-box reporting.

Strategic diversity intelligence isn’t just about better reporting, it’s about building the foundations for systematic change. When the entire sector operates from collaborative data standards and insights, companies can make evidence-based improvements, investors can identify performance leaders, and policymakers can design targeted interventions that actually work. Now is the moment to move from intent to impact.

Ready to build leadership capabilities that drive superior performance? Our framework helps VC leaders develop the skills and structures that transform team dynamics and investment outcomes through proven methodologies in the Diversity VC Standard.

Get in touch to learn more

Upcoming Events & Opportunities

VC Career Fellowship LatAm (2 June - 12 July): Open Applications for the VC Career Fellowship | LatAm Edition | Register Here

Markets Group’s ALTSCHI (July 14–15): Education-focused discussions on alternative investments, featuring LP/GP insights | New York, US | Details Here

Pension Bridge Private Equity Exclusive (July 15–17): Premier LP/GP networking event with a 2:1 allocator-to-manager ratio | Chicago, US | Register Here

US Summer Social - Diversity VC Career Development Program (16 July) | New York | Register Here

Venture Capital World Summit – Lisbon (July 17): Global series connecting startups with investors for scaling and international growth | Lisbon, Portugal | Register Here

Global Leadership Summit (August 7–8): Fund finance market education and networking for investors and managers | London, UK | Details Here

TechBBQ (August 27–28): Scandinavia’s largest startup summit with themes like "Build to Matter" and curated investor matchmaking | Copenhagen, Denmark | Register Here

Unlock VC Summit 2025 (13-15 October): Three-day summit for women in venture capital featuring networking, learning, and deal-making opportunities | Paris | Register Here | 15% off your ticket with the code: diversityVC15 |

Nordic Female Invest Summit (29 October): Nordic Fe:male Invest Summit celebrates 10 years of building a more inclusive startup ecosystem | Malmö , Sweden | Register Here | 10% off your ticket with the code: NFIS25COMMUNITY |

🚪 Open Roles, Open Doors:

Ananda Impact Ventures: Visiting Analyst (M/F/D) - On-site | Munich or Berlin | Apply Here

Northzone: Associate - On-site | Stockholm, Sweden | Apply Here

StartGreen Capital: Investment Analyst Project Finance - On-site | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Apply Here

DN Capital: Analyst / Associate - On-site | Berlin, Germany | Apply Here

DN Capital: Investor Relations Fundraising Internship - On-site | London, UK | Apply Here

Clarendon Fund Managers: Portfolio & Finance Manager - Hybrid | Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK | Apply Here

Balderton: Analyst - On-site | London, UK | Apply Here

🌎 Diversity VC in the Wild:

In June, we hosted the UK launch of our Strategic Operations Toolkit, bringing VCs and ecosystem partners together to explore practical ways to embed inclusivity into daily decisions. Highlights included breakout discussions and a fireside chat with Northzone and Anthemis Group on leading operational practices. Download the Strategic Operations Toolkit HERE.

UK launch of our Strategic Operations Toolkit. Pictures from left to right: Picture 1: Sanna Blomkvist ( Northzone), Meghan Stevenson-Krausz and Georgia Haigh (Anthemis Group). Picture 2: Meghan Stevenson-Krausz , Rosie Prowse (Atomico ), and Nina Slingsby. Picture 3: behind-the-scenes.

We also partnered with Ayming to invite a select group of net-zero and deeptech founders and investors for an exclusive evening of music and connection, including a unique experience watching J Hus live from a private box at the iconic Royal Albert Hall.

**Jhus Night Out.** Top row (L-R): Olivia Brooks (Founders Factory), Charlie Beharrell (Good Compute), Sami Walter (OSE); Middle row: Jenni Hamilton (Green Angel Ventures), Luisa Howell (Ayming), Abi Mohamed, Margaret Sheyindemi (BT); Bottom row: Hamid Kara (HKX Capital).

Lastly, our Career Development Programme for mid-career VC professionals has come to a close. After months of sessions and mentorship, we hosted an intimate UK celebration with the cohort and programme friends. The New York celebration will follow later this month.