Some Black startup founders are finding it easier to attract investors in 2020, as investors are accessible on Zoom and creating diversity-focused funds
Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal : Tweets: @mims , @mims , @mims , @ebekiel , @mims , @mims , @stevecase , and @mims Tweets: Christopher Mims / @mims : While the Ubers and the Postmates and (insert giant company with billions in investment) battle to reduce worker protections and drive wages down, some entrepreneurs and investors are creating companies that push in the opposite direction https://www.wsj.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : Venture capital is it's a teeny tiny slice of investment, and so it doesn't immediately move the needle for most underrepresented entrepreneurs. But a lot of the Black founders I interviewed are creating *platforms* that could benefit people like them https://www.wsj.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : 2. But something unexpected is happening for some Black founders during the pandemic. VCs, corporate funds are, in a time of pandemic and wake of George Floyd, writing checks in a way they haven't before https://www.wsj.com/... Erika Brown Ekiel / @ebekiel : Change is finally coming to the VC industry. One more that didn't make it into this piece: @SalesforceVC committed $100M to fund Black and underrepresented founders and co-founded @BlckVentureInst with @BLCKVC to 5x the # of Black check writers. @mims https://www.wsj.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : 3. Take ShearShare, aka the “Hairbnb” of the salon industry, because it matches stylists with barbershops in a similar model. It had tons of traction; still couldn't get VCs to write the damn check. But their latest round closed faster than ever. https://www.wsj.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : 6. ...And that's the growing numerical commitment of many funds to writing checks to diverse founders; and (slowly) growing ranks of Black+underrepresented VCs. Combine with power of representation of these founders, some like AptDeco which are thriving https://www.wsj.com/... Steve Case / @stevecase : How Some Black Startup Founders Are Thriving in a Pandemic Year https://www.wsj.com/... @WSJ: “An unexpected side-effect of lockdowns: It can be easier to get a meeting with a VC. For minority founders in tech, that's made a big difference.” #RiseOfRest #EquityEdition https://twitter.com/... Christopher Mims / @mims : 1. The figures for black startup founders receiving VC are grisly. Worse than or as bad as representation at big tech co's: “Between 2013 and 2017, 77% of founders of active U.S. startups that had received venture capital were white. Only 1% were Black.” https://www.wsj.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This story lands six months after George Floyd's death, when Black tech founders were publicly calling on VCs to move past diversity theater and address the absence of Black check-writers at the top of the industry. The WSJ piece captures what changed next: Zoom flattened geographic access to partner meetings, and corporate vehicles like Salesforce Ventures' $100M commitment to Black and underrepresented founders turned stated intent into allocated capital.
It matters because it tests whether access — not just rhetoric — was the bottleneck. ShearShare closing its round faster than previous ones is the concrete signal that meetings were converting to checks, while firms like OATV's Indie.vc were already modeling smaller-check, founder-diverse investing as a deliberate strategy.
First-order effects
- Some Black founders, including ShearShare, are closing rounds faster as VCs take meetings over Zoom and diversity-focused funds compete for the same deals.
- Salesforce Ventures' $100M pledge and its Blck Venture Institute work with BLCKVC put money and investor-pipeline building behind the commitments made after mid-2020.
Second-order effects
- More dedicated vehicles chasing diverse founders bid up early-stage access, echoing the modest-check approach Indie.vc had already staked out — but the pool stays shallow: only about $1B of roughly $150B in 2020 US venture funding went to Black founders.
- Founders who gained meetings through pandemic-era accessibility face the follow-on question of whether their investors hold conviction once in-person deal flow resumes and the news cycle moves on.
Third-order effects
- The later data confirms the fragility: Black-women-led startups crossed their full-2020 total by mid-2021 yet stayed under half a percent of US venture funding, and by Q3 2023 Black US founders drew just ~$39.7M — 0.13% of allocated capital — showing the 2020 surge was cyclical pressure, not structural rebalancing.
- If the pattern holds, durable change depends on growing the ranks of Black investors themselves — the BLCKVC pipeline argument — rather than episodic corporate commitment funds that track public attention.
The trend: Diversity-focused venture capital expands when social pressure peaks and contracts when it fades, making 2020's access gains a test of whether the industry builds permanent allocator capacity or repeats the cycle.