(Forbes) This coming Thursday in Congress, the Task Force On Financial Technology is holding a hearing titled “Combatting Tech Bro Culture: Understanding Obstacles to Investments in Diverse-Owned Fintechs.” With Sequoia and AZ16 headlining a recent investment in a firm “seeking to break down barriers between blockchains” as reported by Forbes, it appears the next barriers to break down are between prospective women and minority tech entrepreneurs and funding from the venture capital industry.
According to a Committee Memorandum on the upcoming hearing, the majority of venture capital funding for fintechs is directed toward ‘White and male-founded companies’, while companies founded by women received only 2%, Black founders received only 1% and Latinx founders received only 1.8% of total funding provided. The memo describes Sequoia, Y Combinator, and AZ16 as types of VC firms with different operational styles and does say, “some VC firms have made efforts to diversify their portfolios; however, critics have noted that these efforts have been mainly limited to ‘impact investment’ portfolios that are often motivated by reputational pressure.”
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