Aspect Ventures — set up in 2014 by venture capitalists Theresia Gouw and Jennifer Fonstad — said late Tuesday that Gates was one of “several high-profile supporters” backing a new $181-million fund investing in early-stage startups. It did not specify exactly how much Gates had invested. According to consultancy Pitchbook, only 11 percent of partners of venture capital firms in the US are women. And only 2.2 percent of cash into startups in the US last year went to companies created solely by women, Pitchbook said. Aspect Ventures, which now has five men on its investment team, said that among its startups, “40 percent include a female cofounder, above the industry average, while half include an immigrant or first-generation citizen and about 30 percent a cofounder from a racial minority.”“We’ve seen that teams that are more diverse in tech have outperformed,” co-founder Gouw said.

Source: The Guardian January 24, 2018 08:37 UTC