FinTech news in diversity category

When you include a wider variety of people in investing, it can impact the entire system from the cap table to the boardroom to founders, executive teams, and workforces, and it can lead to more diverse wealth creation over time because some percentage of the startup investments pay out. The couple has been involved in investing on their own, including investments in SpaceX and Robinhood, but they want to create a network to bring in people they know, who have not been asked to be involved in startup investments. Shruti Challa and her husband, Patrick Ekeruo, launched Community Growth Capital this year to give people like this access to later-stage deals with the goal of democratizing growth-stage cap tables. General partner Lorenzo Thione said that the group of people involved in venture investing in the past has been very narrow, and he sees that as a missed opportunity by the venture community.

Ada Ventures also launched Ada’s Angels in October 2020, where five individuals from the Ada Scout network with direct experience in under-represented communities were given £50,000 to make five investments of £10,000. The investors in Ada Venture Fund II include a cornerstone commitment from the British Business Bank through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme, Plexo Capital, University of Edinburgh and a raft of entrepreneurs and investors including Taavet+Sten and the Supercell co-founders. It feels like an eon has passed since the launch in 2019 of Ada Ventures, a European VC that decided to invest in normally under-represented groups and sectors, like women or POC founders, as well as tech which improves society. This has meant that Ada’s Fund I claims to be the most diverse portfolio in Europe, with approximately 55% female founders and 30% ethnic minority founders.

For their second fund, Brand and Rupp will largely continue with the same strategy from Fund I, sticking to making about 15 investments in total after making 12 out of the first fund, they said. In an ecosystem where women make up just 2.4% of partners at venture firms and considering that the vast majority of first-time funds never actually make it to closing.

Akshay Krishnaiah, the founder and CEO of Line, thinks he can get users onboard for his vision of a more inclusive financial network. The company also said registrations are up 100% month over month, and have grown the service from instant cash to larger checks as rapport is built.

The new VC arm, called Stronghold Capital, has already invested in companies including Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research and funds including Precursor Ventures and Backstage Capital, both of which have a track record of backing underrepresented founders.