Except for sparks The widespread protests and renewed debate about inequalities in the United States, the killing of George Floyd in the spring of 2020 also prompted a series of promises from Corporate America that they would do something to address inequalities in the system.
But how much has actually been achieved? Reading the coverage of those months, it seems like the venture capital and startup worlds were on to something, following through on their pledges to start doing something about the lack of diversity in this corner of the corporate ecosystem. Over the past three years, many companies have launched DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives, and we even saw a brief period when those promises were fulfilled. But now it seems that many of those promises have disappeared.
When the market was bullish, Black founders, like many other founders out there, were raising record amounts. But in 2022, the market tanked, interest rates soared, investment nearly froze, hiring slowed, and widespread layoffs hit everyone. Indeed, 2023 saw 44% less PPC job postings compared to last year, both Google and Meta have reportedly laid off some employees responsible for hiring workers from underrepresented backgrounds.
Today, it almost seems that many of the promises made by the venture capital industry in 2020 have gone unfulfilled. To find out exactly how many kept their word, we checked out some of those who made commitments to DEI after BLM protests in 2020.
Who kept their word?
First we turned to Sequoia. In 2020, the investment firm had said it would build one moreinclusive group” and begin working more with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to diversify the limited partner pipeline. In June 2020, the Insider mentionted that Sequoia didn’t have a black partner, but it appears the firm has since hired one, according to its website. A company spokesperson told TechCrunch+ that Sequoia did add more HBCUs as investors to its funds, but declined to share more details.
Honestly, that was encouraging to hear. HBCUs lack the financial and social opportunities that many predominantly white institutions already receive, and partnering with influential foundations like Sequoia is essential to creating wealth-building opportunities for their schools and students. Sequoia did not comment on its hiring plans.
Almost all the firms we called had one or two black partners on staff. This is great considering only 3% of investors are black, per survey from NVCA and Deloitte, and only 2% of venture capital decision makers are black.
