More Information about Underrepresented Founders:
Who is an underrepresented founder? In the startup community, underrepresented founders are those who the
venture capital industry as a whole underinvest in relative to the percent of the overall US population. For the
purpose of this competition, we define underrepresented founders as women, African-Americans, Latin-
Americans and Native-Americans. Across startup communities, these founders belong to demographic groups
and identities which are vastly underrepresented in technology startup ownership and success stories.
Problems with receiving funding exist outside the venture capital universe as well. Underrepresented founders
often face additional hurdles in pursuing angel investment, and traditional bank financing too. Regardless of
funding type, underrepresented founders have historically faced many challenges accessing the capital necessary
to launch, scale, and succeed in business.
Underrepresented founders are often unable to turn to their immediate community for a “family and friends”
fundraising round, often an early signal to investors that the idea has merit. This is where a funding competition
becomes more important, and even then, implicit and explicit bias remains a challenge.
Why does this happen? Besides the obvious answer of the presence of systemic and institutionalized racism and
misogyny that can be found in higher echelons of the business world, there are near universal unconscious
biases, and cultural and communication differences.
Statistics:
Population:
- United States (source):
- Women: 50.8%, Men: 49.2%
- Race: White: 60.1%, Latinx: 18.5%, Black: 13.4%, Asian: 5.9%, Native American: 1.5%
- Delaware (source):
- Women: 51.7%, Men 48.3%
- Race: White: 61.7%, Black: 23.2%, Latinx 9.6%, Asian: 4.1%, Native American: 0.8%
Funding:
- Founder Diversity in VC Backed Businesses (source):
- White 77%
- Asian 18%
- Latinx: 2%
- Black: 1%
- Middle Eastern: 2%
- Founder Gender in VC Backed Businesses (source):
- Male: 90.8%
- Female: 9.2%
- VC Investor Racial Diversity (source):
- VC Firms with Female Partners: 45%
- Decision Makers/Senior Partners: 12%
- VC Firms with Black Investors: 19%
- Decision Makers/Senior Partners: 2%
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