Funding The Next Wave: When Black Women Innovate,

The Billion Dollar Bytes™ are virtual events featuring leading VCs, LP investors, and thought leaders on fueling women-led innovation.
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This episode of Billion Dollar Bytes™ brought to you by Beyond The Billion™, powered by Booz Allen Hamilton, is a virtual series focused on fueling women-led innovation.
Imagine if Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos or Steve Jobs had been born Black. Do you think they would have realized their potential? And, imagine if each of these successful founders also had a Black sister who was equally innovative, equally educated, and equally resourceful. Would she have realized her full potential? Would any of them have been able to access the funding necessary to start their companies and scale their innovations?
Clearly, not all innovators benefit equally from the venture capital system in our country. The Billion Dollar Fund for Women™ was launched in October 2018 to address the massive gender venture funding gap with female funders then only receiving less than 3% of all venture funding. And yet, we know that women are not the only ones who face unconscious bias when it comes to venture investing. Founders and funders of color face structural barriers, embedded bias, and other forms of racism when building their businesses and raising capital.
The stats tell the story:
More than 80% of venture firms do not have a single Black investor and just 1% of venture-funded startup founders are Black
Blacks are underrepresented among startup leaders by 82%
More than 75% of all rounds raised go to all-white founding teams
and yet, diverse founding and executive teams generate higher median realized multiples (RMs) on acquisitions and IPOs than all-white founding and executive teams.
As importantly, when Black Female Founders innovate, they bring a unique experience and perspective to the innovations we get to benefit from and the returns investors can realize.
Join trailblazers in innovation as they share their stories and experiences with Black Women Who Innovate and how we can ensure that those of us deploying capital are Funding the Next Wave.
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Lo Toney, Founding Managing Partner, Plexo Capital
Jewel Burks Solomon, Head, Google for Startups, US
Edward Dugger III, President, Reinventure Capital
Julia Collins, Founder & CEO of Planet FWD
Moderated by:
Hillarie Flood, Principal, Strategic Innovation Group, Booz Allen Hamilton
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ABOUT BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON
For more than 100 years, business, government, and military leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. As a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering, and cyber, we help organizations transform. We are a key partner on some of the most innovative programs for governments worldwide and trusted by the most sensitive agencies. We work shoulder to shoulder with clients, using a mission-first approach to choose the right strategy and technology to help them realize their vision. With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs nearly 27,000 people globally, and had revenue of $6.70 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2019.
To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH)
ABOUT BEYOND THE BILLION™
Beyond The Billion™(BTB), from the Founders of The Billion Dollar Fund for Women™ was founded in October 2018 to address the gender venture investment gap where women-founded teams receive less than 3% of total VC funding. In less than a year, BTB mobilized a global consortium of over 80 venture funds committed to investing $1Bn in women-founded companies. BTB’s mission is now to catalyze the larger landscape of capital, ensuring the continued capacity to invest in women-founded companies by bridging venture funds and limited partner investors. These include institutional investors such as endowments, foundations, international financial institutions, and development financial institutions; as well as strategic corporates, family offices, wealth managers, and high net worth individuals to drive the agenda and capital, collectively.
www.beyondthebillion.com