act one ventures

act one ventures

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A coalition of Latino venture capitalists and business advocacy organizations have voiced their frustration with new data indicating that Latino startup founders continue to have a disproportionately hard time raising money to fund their ventures, and have called for investors to “commit to meaningfully moving the needle” to address inequities.

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Sapann Design/ Shutterstock

Ten venture capital firms have committed to include a "diversity rider" — a promise to startups that they made their best effort to find underrepresented investors — in their deals.

The project was the brainchild of Alejandro Guerrero, a partner at Los Angeles-based Act One Ventures and the child of Mexican immigrants, who often found he was the only person of color in the room when investment deals north of six figures were being made.

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Art by Candice Navi

There's the accelerators and female-founder dinners. Throw in the hyped-up "pledges" rallying public support for inclusion. But, for all the female focused co-working spaces in Los Angeles, the startup scene remains a male-dominated game.

The data tells the story. Female founders received fewer than 10% of venture capital deals in Los Angeles last year, according to an analysis by dot.LA using data provided by PitchBook. When it came to the money, women got even less. Only 2% of the $8 billion in venture capital that poured into Los Angeles companies last year went to female-founded companies. The numbers have moved only a fraction of a percent over the years.

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