VCFamilia Issue - #3

07 Mar • Read in: 6 minutes

Welcome to VCFamilia Issue #3. This is a biweekly update to keep you in the know with everything going on in the Latinx venture community.

If you are a VC who identifies as Latinx and would like to join the slack, please fill out this form. Feel free to join the Linkedin group that includes allies + follow us on Twitter (Alexis Ohanian now does too!)

New Launch!

  • It's finally here: Check out our amazing VCFAMILIA website to learn more our vision and meet la familia.

Coming Up

  • Women on the Rise: Daisy Garcia and Carolina Rojas will be representing VCFamilia March 18th at 7pm ET! Partnering with BLCK VC to highlight Black and Latinx leaders in VC for Women's History Month. RSVP here!

Wepa! Community Wins

  • Gamechanger: Thank you to Alejandro Guerrero (Act One Ventures) & Richie Serna (CEO at Finix) for leading a historic effort to allocate a $3m piece of its Series B for Black and Latinx investors. A watershed moment that highlights why:

  1. We need more diverse investors pushing the industry forward

  2. We need more diverse founders funded

  3. We need strong leaders that will take initiative and do things unconventionally, even when it's tough.

Proud to know them, proud to support them. Read more below!

Finix allocated 10% of its latest funding round for Black and Latinx investors via a Special Purpose Vehicle. We hope other companies will do the same.

  • Shine bright like a 💎: Congratulations to VCF Council member Marcia Chong Rosado for her feature in Forbes shining a much-needed light on justice tech! Read more below:

Impact accelerator Village Capital and impact investor American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact recently started teaming up to research and assess justicetech startups and investors and find ways to address their most pressing needs.

  • Repping our community: VCF Council member Af Hernandez, Lolita Taub, and Cheryl Campos represented on Clubhouse as part of Hustle Fund's 24 hour takeover - have we seen more Latinx VC representation at an event not about Latinx folks?

Primer Impacto

  • New Kids on the Block: Congratulations to Kristen Sonday for launching LongJump VC to support more Chicago pre-seed entrepreneurs!

As a Latina founder of a social impact company, raising VC money hasn’t exactly been easy. Especially in Chicago, where I’m based, the VC community, while close-knit and easily accessible, is small…

  • Chicago on fire: With a new $5M fund, P33 aims to support Chicago’s Black and Latinx founders. Congratulations to Desiree Vargas Wrigley for leading the charge! Read more here.

  • Acquisition: Congratulations to Emiliano and the whole @nearpod team for the $650m acquisition! Latinx founders crushing it - read more here.

  • Work to do: VC firms reported 4% Black investment professionals (compared to 3% in 2018) and 4% Hispanic / Latino investment professionals (down from 5% in 2018) 🙃😢 Read more below + see Marcelo Claure's reaction to our tweet.

The third edition of our Human Capital Survey uncovers progress for diversity and inclusion at venture capital firms, but the pace of change remains slow.

Community Gatherings

  • Deal Flow Circle: Cain Yepez organized our first deal circle! Our members submitted 28 high quality companies advancing our mission to get more Latinx co-investors on cap tables and Latinx founders funded.

  • Book Club: Obama reminded us that change requires perseverance and community. We discussed A Promised Land and the impact his administration's legacy has had on our community and lives. Next up? The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.

Just a feel-good tweet to highlight why we do what we do - thank you for being a part of this community!