The numbers speak volumes: Despite having a population that is 13% Black, in the United States just 4% of the venture capital industry is African-American, a recent Bloomberg article concluded.
Nico Grant, citing data from the National Venture Capital Association, found that an estimated 3% of influential general partners are African-American. “Even when these VCs successfully boost the founders from other underrepresented groups in their portfolio, structural forces keep funding for Black entrepreneurs stubbornly low,” he wrote.
Black VCs including Tyson Clark at Alphabet Inc.’s GV, Monique Woodard, a VC who created Cake Ventures, Reach Capital co-founder Shauntel Garvey, and Base10 co-founder and managing partner Adeyemi Ajao opened up about their struggles.
“Humbly, there are a group of people in my position who want to do something, but feel like we don’t have enough power yet to be influential on this topic,” Clark told the news outlet. “It’s painful for all of us to feel this helplessness.”
In today’s Plug In South LA Beat, our regular curation of must-read innovation and tech news, we’re delving into why the racism in Silicon Valley is particularly insidious:
Black Venture Capitalists Confront Silicon Valley’s Quiet Racism