Top Venture Industry Group Launches Nonprofit to Add Diversity to its Ranks

Rachel Uranga

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.

Top Venture Industry Group Launches Nonprofit to Add Diversity to its Ranks

As the country reckons with racial inequity forced to the fore by the George Floyd protests, the National Venture Capital Association launched a nonprofit Tuesday with a focus on building diversity.

Dubbed Venture Forward, the $5.5 million effort had been in the works for years and is being backed by Silicon Valley Bank, Deloitte and Gunderson Dettmer along with dozens of individuals.


The 501(c)(3) will help the industry that bankrolls startups and prides itself on fueling innovation to diversify its ranks.

"It's a long term sustainable way to think about how we are shaping the human capital, the culture, the values and the narrative of venture," said Maryam Haque, the executive director of Venture Forward.

The effort has already been underway and was supposed to be announced in March but was pushed back because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The venture will focus on four areas: diversity and inclusion, education, research and history.

"(Venture) has traditionally not been a very diverse and inclusive ecosystem," she said. "We have seen more progress in terms of women partners coming into roles at venture firms, but it's been very little to no progress when you look at partners that are black or Latinx."

The industry has been dominated by white men. Along with the rest of the nation, it's facing a moment of self reflection. Among the programs are an online university with scholarships geared to those underrepresented in venture.

About 21% of investment professionals in the industry are women, up 6 percentage points from 2016

Venture Forward has a separate board from NVCA. Board members include Christy Chin of Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Bobby Franklin of NVCA, Jennifer Friel Goldstein of Silicon Valley Bank, Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures, Ray Leach of JumpStart, Kate Mitchell of Scale Venture Partners and Scott Sandell of NEA.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: Mapp Gains New CPO and CTO, Prodoscore Taps Boeing Exec
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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This Week in ‘Raises’: GITAI Lands $30M, Steno Gains $15M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local space robotics startup raised fresh funding to expand the flight model manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S. and increase employment, while a remote litigation platform raised more funding to continue growing its footprint in new markets across the country, develop service channels for its clients and continue expanding its tech team.

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Gitai Raises $30 Million to Expand Manufacturing Footprint in Los Angeles

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Gitai Raises $30 Million to Expand Manufacturing Footprint in Los Angeles
\u200bPhoto: Gitai

Space robotics company Gitai raised a $30 million Series B extension this week, bringing the total value of the round to roughly $47 million.

The funding will be used to further develop Gitai’s suite of space robots as well as build out its manufacturing footprint in Torrance. Previously Gitai announced it raised a $17.1 million Series B in March 2021; this additional raise is still part of that round.

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