In nearly 80% of cases, startups that receive funding from venture capital firms are run by white owners 鈥� and of the venture capital industry found that only 3% of investment partners have Black founders.
Dan Conner, the founder of Ascend Venture Capital, told St. Louis on the Air that the numbers are 鈥渃ompletely lamentable鈥� but also reflective of the opportunities that investors are missing.
That鈥檚 why Ascend announced the creation of a $25 million opportunity fund targeted at companies whose owners come from underrepresented groups in the industry.
鈥淣o geography or demographic has a monopoly on brilliance. It crops up anywhere, in any circles,鈥� Conner said on Wednesday. 鈥淭he fact that transformational businesses are getting started in these areas, and are getting underfunded, is terrible.鈥�
Conner pointed out several possible reasons for the overwhelming proportion of white-owned startups in the venture capital space. Venture fund investors, he observes, can be so reliant on looking for patterns of success that they miss the bigger picture.
鈥淲e tend to seize on past successes,鈥� he said, 鈥淎nd then try and look for the same situations in the future. That just leads to making the same investments over and over.鈥�
For Conner, what鈥檚 needed are new people with great ideas, and those founders and their companies don鈥檛 necessarily look like the juggernauts that have dominated Silicon Valley 鈥�- at least, not yet. Ascend itself also has a new partner: Yinka Faleti, whose previous roles include St. Louis assistant prosecutor, political candidate and leader of the Forward Through Ferguson.
鈥淰enture capital is such a huge part of creating the future of wealth, and either equity or inequity in our society,鈥� Faleti said. 鈥淭his resonates with me personally, because I understand that there are so many stones that are not met or not turned over, and where there are brilliant folks with incredible ideas that will transform our society for the better.鈥�
Lisa Morales-Hellebo, the CEO of Refashiond OS, a data and logistics startup in which Ascend is an investor, said that she had been repeatedly overlooked by other venture capital firms before landing the deal.
鈥淭his venture community, that I've seen over my 27 years in tech, tends to be followers, not leaders, not disruptors,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat they're missing out on is massive.鈥�
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , , and . Avery Rogers is our production assistant. The audio engineer is .
