raceAhead: When women invest in other women

On culture and diversity in corporate America. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. follow Subscribe Send Tip October 31, 2019 Today’s essay is a guest opinion piece by Ambika Singh, the founder of a women’s rental clothing startup. Read more about raceAhead’s call for essay submissions here. Take it from an entrepreneur like me: Raising money is one of the greatest challenges in getting a startup off the ground. For female-founded startups, the fundraising playing field is particularly lopsided—so much so that anyone who values women's economic advancement should pay attention. A recent report by the National Venture Capital Association and Pitchbook found that in the first half of 2019, investment in female-founded startups accounted for just 2.9% of total venture investments, only a slight improvement from 2.3% in 2018. Women entrepreneurs can begin to close the funding gap for all by encouraging participation from investors who may have an easier time pattern-matching female CEOs to successful outcomes: other women. The increased participation of women investors may have positive effects beyond the companies they fund—if they're intentional about how they invest. A 2018 study by Indiana University's Women's Philanthropy Institute about the donor habits of high net worth women found that women philanthropists have an eye toward driving systemic change through funding. “Women can be powerful agents of change with their philanthropy, and their values and goals are often shaped by the societal experiences of being female,” says Elizabeth Dale, a professor at Seattle University, who worked on the study. Likewise, women investors could choose to invest in companies and founders who strive to make systematic change in the for-profit arena, leading to better outcomes for individual consumers and communities who may have been overlooked by entrepreneurs unfamiliar with such challenges. “Remember that you’re investing not just in the startup idea, but also what that startup’s success will bring to the world,” says Ruchika Tulshyan, a philanthropist, angel investor, and author of The Diversity Advantage: Fixing Gender Inequality in the Workplace. “For me, that looks like investing in a woman-of-color-led organization that makes life infinitely easier for working women, especially working mothers.” So, for women looking to invest in women-owned companies, here are four things to consider: • Don't be afraid to start small. Not all investors have to be hedge funds. Female-founded startups that face institutional barriers to traditional funding can represent great investment returns because of the lack of competition in the funding cycle, resulting in smaller amounts of capital translating into great returns for investors.  •  Do your research to find startups aligned with your values. What companies are solving social problems that matter to you and your community? What value does this company bring to the world? Find a startup that speaks to you. That way, even if you don't see a return on investment as fast as you would normally like, you can still know the money is going towards bringing an important idea to life.  • Consider pooled investments for lower risk. Organizations like SheEO offer a low financial commitment and pool women's funds to support women-owned businesses around the globe. Portfolia Funds channels a $10,000 minimum investment into 10 high-potential entrepreneurial companies chosen by experts. Even if only one is a unicorn, your money still supports women entrepreneurs who are often creating high-paying jobs for fellow women. • Tap into your network or talk to other female angels for advice. As female entrepreneurs, CEOs, founders, and leaders, it's our responsibility to empower the women around us, and on the flip side, be okay with asking for help when we need it. You never know who will have the knowledge you need to succeed, so ask questions. Resources like AngelList or the Angel Capital Association may be helpful in locating fellow angels in your area. More women investing in for-profit ventures can increase the percentage of women receiving funding to grow businesses that might not have otherwise existed without her unique perspective. More women succeeding means more mentors, more torch-bearers, more examples to follow—and fewer boardrooms lacking in diversity. Like fundraising itself, changing the fundraising ecosystem requires hard work and grit, but creating an equal playing field for everyone is a mission worth fighting for. Ambika Singh is the CEO and co-founder of Armoire, a clothing rental startup based in Seattle. Tamara El-Waylly and Ellen McGirt co-created the raceAhead op-ed program; Ellen curated and wrote the blurbs in this edition of raceAhead. . . On Point The New World Series champions Congratulations to the Houston Astros who played the role of epic foe, which allowed the Washington Nationals to complete their inspiring and heroic baseball journey. The Nationals won the World Series—beating the Astros 6-2 in Game 7—despite a 1.6% chance of winning  when they started the season, and despite facing an Astro team that won 107 regular-season games (to their 93). Now, for the first time in franchise history, they're World Series champions. And special shout-out to proud fans of Dave Martinez, the Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican manager of the Nationals. ESPN Twitter is not here for your lying political ads Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took to the platform yesterday to make a big announcement: They will no longer be accepting paid political ads, circumventing the need to fact check them. "It's not credible for us to say: 'We're working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, but if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political ad… well... they can say whatever they want!'" Dorsey tweeted.  It was also a direct shot at Facebook; Dorsey made his announcement minutes before Facebook's third quarter earnings announcement. Analysts point out sparse revenue from political ads won't be much of a financial ding, but the boost to their image could be significant. "The reward here is much greater [than the risk]," Ronald Josey, an analyst at JMP Securities, tells Fortune. Fortune Former Starbucks manager sues for discrimination against white employees Shannon Phillips worked as a regional manager when the now infamous arrests of two Black patrons, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, took place in a Philadelphia store in April 1918. Phillips claims that she was fired in the aftermath of the incident because Starbucks needed to "convince the community that it had properly responded to the incident." Phillips supervised the location in question, along with 100 other stores, and "worked tirelessly" to repair community relations. Her suit claims she was fired after she defended a white manager, who she says was unjustly accused of bias. NBC Philadelphia Colleges are struggling to help housing and food insecure students It's a recipe for disaster, reports the non-profit Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN): Tuition and basic living costs are rising, investment in public higher education is falling,  and Pell Grants can't cover the gap. As students from under-resourced families make it into the education system in increasing numbers, colleges need to find ways to keep them safe, fed, and housed. "We have been doing a better job of making sure low-income children feel like college is a place for them," said Jessica Bartholow, of the Western Poverty Law Center in California. "Maybe so much so that it's a real shock when they get here and find out that it isn't." FERN On Background The legacy of slavery persists in the U.S. health care system A recent event at Harvard, "400 Years of Inequality," sponsored by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard's FXB Center for Health and Human Rights,  began with the grim statistics: The U.S. is one of only 13 countries in the world where more women die in childbirth today than they did 25 years ago, and Black women are three to four times more likely to die than white ones. And stereotypes about Black bodies (like pain tolerance) persist — and are direct legacies from slavery. "The inequalities of the health system were built in from the beginning," said Evelynn M. Hammonds, chair of the Department of the History of Science. "The history of the field you are studying makes no mention of this." Harvard Gazette A Q&A with author Pamela Newkirk Newkirk's new book Diversity, Inc., (reviewed here) has been making a splash in with the inclusion crowd, as she explores the reasons why progress towards diversity has been so slow. In this Q&A with Workforce, she explains what she thinks needs to happen now. "Part of what I hope to achieve in this book is contextualizing some of these racial misunderstandings that we have," she says. "Until we truly understand the role that race plays in the myriad of interactions that we have in this country, we're always going to be in this place on misunderstanding and mistrust." Workforce What is 'settler fragility'? Dina Gilio-Whitaker, a lecturer of American Indian studies and a member of the Colville Confederated Tribes,  helps to explain why so many Americans struggle with conversations about the violence done to Indigenous people throughout history. Settler colonialism is a complex beast, and even non-Native people of color feel compelled to distance themselves from complicity and responsibility in our own history. "The good-bad binary is part of this distancing impulse, because like racism, nobody wants to be associated with genocide and injustice, especially in a country that touts its democracy and equality, and especially for people who have been oppressed by it in other ways," she writes. It also cuts to the heart of American mythmaking. "This is about deeply questioning all the assumptions we have been raised with in a society built on imperialism, private property (which includes slavery), and capitalism," she writes. Beacon Broadside . Content From SAP Welcome to Human Experience Management (HXM) Human Experience Management means redesigning experiences with the end user in mind across the entire HR ecosystem. Read the blog. Are you thriving at work? . Quote "[T]he glass ceiling will go away when women help other women break through that ceiling." – Indra Nooyi, former chair and CEO of PepsiCo, speaking at The Women's Conference 2008. . IF YOU LIKE THIS EMAIL... Share today's raceAhead with a friend. Did someone share this with you? Sign up here. For previous editions, click here. For even more, check out The Broadsheet, Fortune's daily newsletter for and about the world's most powerful women. Sign up here.  . Email Us Subscribe share: . This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to raceAhead. 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Term Sheet: Oct. 31, 2019

Our daily brief on deals and dealmakers. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. follow Subscribe Send Tip October 31, 2019 Another day, another SoftBank portfolio company in hot water. Scott Painter, the founder and CEO of embattled car-leasing startup Fair has resigned. His company underwent sweeping layoffs, which accounted for roughly 40% of its staff, and his CFO (who was his brother) also left the company last week. SoftBank's Adam Hieber, one of Fair's largest investors, will take over as interim CEO. SoftBank led Fair's $385 million funding round last year, making the startup's valuation rocket to $1.2 billion from about $450 million. Prior to the capital infusion, Fair had raised $115 million in equity funding and almost $1 billion in debt.  Last year, Fair acquired Uber's car-leasing program, known as Xchange Leasing. Uber sold the business after heavy losses, according to the WSJ. As part of that deal, Fair signed an exclusive agreement to lease cars to Uber drivers. In a statement to The Verge on his resignation, Painter wrote: "Successful companies MUST operate and grow in a sustainable manner and ultimately be profitable. The decisions that get made while growing a game changing business at speed are tough but they are necessary if you are going to build enduring companies."  Profitability has reared its ugly head again. Even though Peloton's CFO recently remarked that she hopes the public's bias against unprofitable companies changes, I actually think that day is far away. We're seeing the tide turn against venture-backed unicorns with big losses and a tough time explaining how they plan to reach profitability. Choosing growth over profitability has become a cliché in tech circles, with founders trying to explain that losing billions of dollars is justified as long as you're growing. Now, it seems as though companies are starting to correct for years of choosing hyper-growth over building sustainable businesses with sound financials. Patricia Nakache, General Partner at Trinity Ventures, described this as "a pendulum swing" at Fortune's Most Powerful Women event earlier this month.  "We have swung way out towards growth at most costs. But now public markets have weighed in and resoundingly said, this has gone too far," she said.  She cautioned: "It’s a mistake in private markets to go from extreme to extreme." Yet "extreme to extreme" is the new normal for private, well-capitalized companies like Fair, Wag, and WeWork.  2018 was a year of excess. 2019 was a year of reality checks. Let's see what 2020 has in store. . . VENTURE DEALS - Vindex, a New York-based esports infrastructure platform, raised $60 million in Series A funding. The investors were not named. - B8ta, a San Francisco and New York-based operator of an experiential retail-as-a-service platform, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Evolution Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Macy's, Khosla Ventures, and Peak State Ventures. - Particle, a San Francisco-based internet of things platform, raised $40 million in Series C funding. Qualcomm Ventures LLC and Energy Impact Partners led the round, and were joined by investors including Root Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, Industry Ventures, Spark Capital, Green D Ventures, Counterpart Ventures and SOSV. - MIRROR, a New York-based developer of an in-home fitness platform, raised $34 million in in Series B-1 funding. Point72 Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Lululemon, LionTree LLC, Spark Capital, and Lerer Hippeau. - Crunchbase, a San Francisco-based provider of private-company prospecting and research solutions, raised $30 million in Series C funding. OMERS Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Emergence, Mayfield, Cowboy Ventures, and Verizon. - TOCA Football Inc, a Costa, Mesa, Calif.-based soccer-focused and technology-enabled experience company, raised $25 million in Series D funding. Investors include WestRiver Group and RNS Partners. - Stampli, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of cloud based invoice management software, raised $25 million in Series B funding. SignalFire led the round, and was joined by investors including Hillsven Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and NextWorld Capital. - dotData, a Cupertino, Calif.-based data science automation platform, raised $23 million in Series A funding,  JAFCO led the round, and was joined by investors including Goldman Sachs and NEC Corporation. - Crimson Education, a New Zealand-based edtech and college admissions support company, raised $20 million in Series C funding. Investors include CTF (Chow Tai Fook) Education Group. - Cytovale Inc, a San Francisco-based medical technology company, raised $15 million in funding. Breakout Ventures and Blackhorn Ventures led the round. - Folloze, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of applied hyper-personalization solutions, raised $11 million in Series B funding. BGV led the round, and was joined by investors including Canvas Ventures, Cervin Ventures, Grayhawk Capital and SVB. - Tactile Mobility, an Israel-based auto tech firm, raised $9 million in funding. Investors include Porsche and Union Tech Ventures.  - Freetrade, a London-based provider of a mobile app for zero-commission share dealings and professional advice, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Investors include Draper Esprit. - Link3D, a Boulder, Colo.-based provider of additive manufacturing execution system workflow software, raised $7 million in funding. AI Capital led the round. - Techtonic, a Boulder, Colo.-based developer of onshore, product-driven software, raised $6 million in Series B funding. Camden Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including University Ventures and Zoma Capital. - Kubit, a Fremont, Calif.-based augmented analytics provider, raised $4.5 million in seed funding from Shasta Ventures. - Kangarootime, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based provider of early childhood software, raised $3.5 million in Series A funding. Investors include Cultivation Capital. HEALTH & LIFE SCIENCES DEALS - Arranta Bio, a Watertown, Mass.-based biotech firm, raised $82 million in funding. Investors include Ampersand Capital Partners and Thermo Fisher. - Tmunity Therapeutics, a Philadelphia-based biotherapeutics company, raised $75 million in Series B funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, and was joined by investors including  Westlake Village BioPartners, Gilead Sciences, The University of Pennsylvania, Be The Match BioTherapies and BrightEdge Venture Fund. PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS - Accumen, which is backed by Arsenal Capital Partners, acquired 3DR, a Louisville, Ky.-based provider of outsourced post-processing services to hospitals and radiology departments in the U.S. Financial terms weren't disclosed.  - Confluence Technologies, which is backed by TA Associates, acquired StatPro, a U.K.-based provider of cloud-based portfolio analytics, asset data services and data management tools, for more than $207 million. IPOs - Meili Auto Holdings, a Beijing-based used car loan platform, filed for an $100 million IPO. It posted revenue of $241.3 million in 2018 and loss of $46.5 million. It plans to list on the NYSE as "ML." Read more. - Oyster Point Pharma, a Princeton, NJ-based clinical stage biotech focused on ocular diseases, raised $80 million in an IPO of 5 million shares priced at $16, the low end of its range. The firm posted a loss of $16.5 million in 2018 and has yet to post a revenue. New Enterprise Associates (32% pre-offering), Versant Ventures (32%) and Invus Opportunities (11.8%). It plans to list on the Nasdaq as "OYST." Read more. EXITS - Workforce Logiq, which is backed by The Carlyle Group, acquired Engage Talent, a Charleston, Calif.-based predictive analytics and AI software company. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Engage Talent had raised $9.8 million in venture funding from investors including Refinery Ventures, Ventures, Revolution Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Alpha Venture Partners. - Graham Partners acquired Gatekeeper Systems Inc, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of intelligent cart solutions, from HKW. Financial terms weren't disclosed.  - Tech Data agreed to acquire DLT Solutions, a Herndon, Va.-based government IT solutions aggregator. Financial terms weren't disclosed. The seller was Mill Point Capital. - Platinum Equity acquired De Wave Group, an Italy-based marine contractor that specializes in cruise ship interiors, from Xenon Private Equity. Financial terms weren't disclosed.  PEOPLE - Aaref Hilaly joined Wing Venture Capital as a partner. Previously, he was at Sequoia. . IF YOU LIKE THIS EMAIL... Share today's Term Sheet with a friend. Did someone share this with you? Sign up here. For previous editions, click here. For even more, check out Data Sheet, Fortune's daily newsletter on the latest in tech news. Sign up here.  . Email Us Subscribe share: . This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to Term Sheet. 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