Newly formed venture fund TrueWealth Ventures is emblematic of a push to increase diversity in the VC world, a subject on the agenda for the GCVI Summit.
Author: Tim Lafferty, Managing Director, Global Corporate Venturing
A Texas-based micro venture capital fund called TrueWealth Ventures has been launched to take advantage of what the founders believe is an underfunded, high-performing opportunity segment, female-led startups, and is raising a $20m fund.
TrueWealth co-founder Kerry Rupp, formerly CEO of startup accelerator DreamIt Ventures, said: “85% of consumer purchases in the US are made by women and gender-diverse business teams financially outperform all-male counterparts. And yet only 2.19% of venture dollars go towards startups with women CEOs.”
Rupp was speaking at a Women in Venture lunch in New York, organised by Global Corporate Venturing and supported by Silicon Valley Bank and law firm Fenwick & West.
Another fund, looking to tap into this opportunity is New Jersey-based Astarte Ventures. General partner Tracy Warren said at the lunch, which was attended by 20 women from CVC and VC funds: “Astarte Ventures is dedicated exclusively to the health and wellbeing of women and children.”
One of Astarte’s portfolio companies is Naya, the developer of an innovative breast pump, which has struggled to raise additional funding from a male-dominated VC industry, according to a recent article in Bloomberg.
A topic to be discussed at the forthcoming GCVI Summit in Monterey is how corporates can, as one of their strategic venture goals, increase diversity in their venture team and investment portfolio.
GE Ventures CEO Sue Siegel; Janey Hoe, a vice-president at Cisco Investments; and In-Q-Tel partner Eileen Tanghal will explain to attendees how their units are already embracing this approach. More at www.gcvisummit.com
