1% of Internet Startups by People of Color Receive Venture Capital

[Michelle Ferrier]

I cross-posted this link on the Digital Journalism Task Force (NABJ) listserv, but thought it was most appropriate for our intrepid group of entrepreneurs. Don't be disheartened...let's find and create our own angel/venture capital networks for the North Carolina conference!

Mike Green posted this summary on the DJTF listserv as an introduction:

A report by a relatively new research firm reveals that Blacks represent just 1
percent of all venture capital invested companies, while Whites make up 87
percent and Asians 12 percent.

http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/venture-capital/venture-capital-demographics-87-percent-vc-backed-founders-white-asian-teams-raise-largest-funding?utm_source=CB+Insights+Newsletter&utm_campaign=948c9ab4eb-Newsletter_Seed_Is_New_Series_A&utm_medium=email

When we write stories about Blacks being under-represented in business
ownership, perhaps we might look into the sources of funding, which might reveal
that Blacks aren't getting through the door with angels and venture capitalists
or Blacks are overlooking this major area of business development. This
distressing trend suggests Blacks will once again find ourselves at the back of
the business bus in the next generation. If the data are correct, that strongly
suggests a need to form our own business incubators, entrepreneurship training
centers and angel and venture capital groups. In an era of media
entrepreneurship, it seems prudent to address this issue.

NABJ does a good job of keeping an eye on the diversity meter of media
companies. I think it might also be a good idea to shed a spotlight on the
industry that provides funding capital for media companies to form and grow.
That investment isn't going to Black-owned startups and existing businesses.

Minus a media spotlight, this funding trend has no chance of being addressed.

Unfortunately, the universe of angel and venture capital funding is strange and
unfamiliar to most of us in journalism. That means it remains relatively unheard
of by the masses, despite literally hundreds of billions of dollars flowing
through the hands of angels and VCs directly to Whites and Asians each year, who
use the funds to start and grow businesses while Black entrepreneurs struggle
with their bootstraps.

http://www.cbinsights.com/blog/venture-capital/venture-capital-demographics-87-percent-vc-backed-founders-white-asian-teams-raise-largest-funding?utm_source=CB+Insights+Newsletter&utm_campaign=948c9ab4eb-Newsletter_Seed_Is_New_Series_A&utm_medium=email

mike green
medford, or.