Venture capital firm, Backstage Capital recently announced that it has launched a $36 million fund that will invest in Black women founders.
The “It’s About Damn Time Fund” as it was called by founder, Arlan Hamilton, will help address the funding gap that exists between investors and Black women in the VC landscape.
A 2015 study by First Round Capital suggested that only 0.2% of all funding went to companies run by women of color. It went on to say that the “lack of outside investment is a major barrier for many aspiring female entrepreneurs, especially in the technology sector.”
“It is my firm belief that because Black women have had to make do with far less for centuries, equipping them with early stage capital that is on par with their white male counterparts has the potential to lead to outsized returns,“ Hamilton said in a recent interview.
Backstage Capital plans to invest $1 million checks into 15-20 companies over the next three years, with the remainder of the fund reserved for future financing.
Currently, the firm has invested in more than 80 portfolio companies, and Hamilton expects to make two or three seed investments out of this new fund by the end of the year.
