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On Monday , Fearless Fund’sco - founder Ayana Parsons announced that she was stepping down from her leadership character from the firm . She will no longer be its general partner and COO but will be off “ enjoying island life ” with her family , she pronounce ina LinkedIn post . She co - founded the fund in 2019 with collaborator Arian Simone , who remains its chief operating officer .
Fearless Fund was ground with a charge to provide venture working capital financing , grants and fiscal education to startups founded by Black women . That ’s a demographic that is both particularly underserved and promising . Less than 1 % of all VC dollars in 2023 go to Black - found inauguration , which amountsto around $ 661 million out of $ 136 billion , according to Crunchbase datum .
So Fearless Fund is doing exactly what speculation capitalist are presuppose to do : get an overlooked area ( in Silicon Valley they might call it taking a “ contrarian view ” ) and invest . The investment company has so far gift $ 26 million into over 40 companies that include Slutty Vegan , The Lip Bar , Partake Foods , and Live Tinted , Atlanta Daily World reports .
The money invested and give is from private limited partner . The LPs who indorse the investment company want to put up this thesis . The companies receiving money are still individual startups . Since so little Greco-Roman VC funding is going to these business organization , the residential area is build their own rails . Everyone in this ecosystem is OK with this .
Still , it is being sued by a politically conservative group called the American Alliance for Equal Rights ( AAER ) over its charitable Ulysses Simpson Grant broadcast . AAER is challenge the investment company ’s right hand to put up $ 20,000 in minor business grant to Black women , claiming the programme violates the Civil Rights Act of 1866 , which bans the use of slipstream in contract .
AAER was founded by Edward Blum , an activist who helped successfully turn over affirmative action in universities and is now conducting several other cause in similar vein ( e.g. , the AAER is currently action the Smithsonian Institute ’s Latino Museum Studies Program for hiring Latino intern ) .
The typeface is not going particularly well for Fearless Fund . As TechCrunch recently reported , in the beginning this calendar month an charm court find against Fearless . Itupheld a preliminary injunction that prevents the firm from making grants to fatal womenbusiness owners . The firm told TechCrunch at that time it is weigh its alternative on how to go forward .
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Last year , when the sheath made national news , legion founders and investors severalise TechCrunch about the infuriating irony of using the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to resist the business firm ’s program , as it was initially put into place to assist the formerly enslaved andis now being used against the community it sought to help .
In the months that followed , the thwarting of this case within the community has not lessen . Earlier on Monday , Parsons had an emotional moment onstage at the ForbesBLK Summit in Atlanta . She was joined by political leader Stacey Abrams and the chief diversity officer of Congress , Dr. Sesha Joi Moon .
“ Anytime you are surrounded by Black women , they are going to pullulate into you , ’’ Parsons said , grant to Forbes . “ So , when I walked on this level , these middle were watering because they understood the heavy core that is on all of us in this land . ’’
After announce her resignation , Parsonstold The Atlanta Journal - Constitutionand her spokesperson reassert to TechCrunch that the lawsuit against Fearless was not a actuate factor . But she did not otherwise explain her decision to will . She also remain an investor in the fund . “ As co - laminitis , Ayana is still an investor and she has always had multiple venture centered around inclusion leadership and ontogeny , venture Washington , and entrepreneurship . Fearless Fund is merely one boulevard in her pursuit to be an counsel for the marginalized , ” her spokesperson said .
curate said in her LinkedIn post that she founded the house “ to help exchange the game for women of color entrepreneurs . And my principle was unsubdivided : women of color are the most establish yet the least fund . They are starting concern at a fast charge per unit than any other demographic yet lack access to the cap , resources , education and web want to surmount their business . ”
She also promise not to give up on her destination . “ I remain unwavering in my support of and commitment to the advancement of women of colour , ” she said in an emailed affirmation , mentioning that she ’ll soon be issue a record , too .
Indeed , support for anything considered DEI has done a unadulterated pendulum swing in tech in 2024 , from its peak in 2020 after the slaying of George Floyd . Currently , it has become more in trend topublicly pan DEI and praise the so - called meritocracy .
This story was updated to include statements from Parsons and her public sexual congress representative .
