Blck VC Group Launches 'We Won't Wait' Campaign Pushing for Diversity in Investing Groups
Rachel Uranga is dot.LA's Managing Editor, News. She is a former Mexico-based market correspondent at Reuters and has worked for several Southern California news outlets, including the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Los Angeles Daily News. She has covered everything from IPOs to immigration. Uranga is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and California State University Northridge. A Los Angeles native, she lives with her husband, son and their felines.
Venture capital has fueled billions of dollars in wealth but it has largely excluded black Americans. Only 1% of venture-funded startup founders are black and more than 80% of venture firms don't have a single black investor.
Blck VC, a group of young black investors and entrepreneurs are calling on the venture capitalist community to diversify their ranks and support the black community. Declaring Thursday, June 4th, a day of action, the group launched a campaign called "We Won't Wait."
"Venture prides itself on being progressive. We disrupt industries. We work fast and break things. We fund dreams and create jobs. Yet, venture is one of the most homogeneous and exclusive clubs there is," a post from the group said on medium.
Blck VC was started in the Bay Area in 2018 by Fredrik Groce, a principal at Storm Ventures and Sydney Sykes, who worked in venture and was struck by the lack of diversity in the field.
The group, with outposts in Los Angeles and other major cities, helps connect graduates to jobs in venture and investors to mentors through their growing network.
"Venture Capital is one of these unjust systems. It is a system of funding entrepreneurs that has routinely overlooked talented black founders and investors, squashing promising businesses and dreams as a result. It is time for venture to face the ugly reality that it is a system perpetuating the institutional racism that plagues our society," the post said.
The group is asking firms to donate to funds that fight systematic racism and help break the wealth gap, including its own group, NAACP, Minnesota Freedom Fund, Reclaim the Block, Know Your Rights Campaign, Black Visions Collective, Code2040, HBCUvc, /Dev/Color, Hidden Genius Project and DigitalUndivided.- Kobe Bryant Remembered as Venture Capitalist in L.A. - dot.LA ›
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Rachel Uranga is dot.LA's Managing Editor, News. She is a former Mexico-based market correspondent at Reuters and has worked for several Southern California news outlets, including the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Los Angeles Daily News. She has covered everything from IPOs to immigration. Uranga is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and California State University Northridge. A Los Angeles native, she lives with her husband, son and their felines.
Image Source: Archer