Here at Colorintech, our #Build pathway helps connect underrepresented founders who are raising funds with relevant investors. We want to make your journey easier and help you succeed, regardless of the size of your network.
As a result, we sometimes get asked who the best VCs to watch right now are for our community to be aware of. Well, here’s a list of our top 12 that have shown some commitment to supporting diverse founders.
1. Cornerstone VC
Cornerstone VC, previously Cornerstone Partners, is an early stage fund that looks for underrepresented founders across a number of categories and assesses a founder based on a number of entrepreneurial criteria.
Website: https://www.cornerstonevc.co/
2. Ada Ventures
Ada Ventures is a Seed stage fund and Angel network who support overlooked founders working in 3 main areas: health, climate, and economic empowerment. They recently announced a second fund of 36M, and are looking for applications from great entrepreneurs.
Website: https://www.adaventures.com/
3. Atomico
Atomico is a well-known seed-Series A investment firm, who also has an angel network, who have committed to a number of diversity initiatives. From supporting research with Diversity VC, to being a partner of ours here at Colorintech.
Website: https://atomico.com/
4. AlbionVC
Albion VC is a late-seed to Series B investor - so they invest a little later in the business lifecycle - who are fairly generalist but like emerging technologies, and B2B businesses. They have proven their staff's commitment to supporting underrepresented founders, through initiatives and time spent supporting community members and specifically female founders.
Website: https://albion.vc/
5. Index Ventures
Although Index doesn’t have a specific diversity mandate, we know they take a look at this and have team members with a strong lens in this direction. A seed to IPO fund, they’re based around the world and have backed some incredibly well-known businesses, from Discord to Figma.
Website: https://www.indexventures.com/
6. Pink Salt Ventures
Pink Salt is an early-stage fund focusing on backing female-led tech companies. Although they’re fairly small, they’ve made some impactful investments and are definitely one to watch, as we made predictions at the beginning of 2023 that investment in women entrepreneurs would likely increase in 2023 and beyond.
Website: https://www.pinksaltventures.com/
7. LocalGlobe
LocalGlobe is part of Phoenix Court Group, which has several investment and startup operator orgs in it, all which take part in various initiatives for DEI and ensure they look at this during their investment decisions. As well as being a supporter of us here at Colorintech, they run a quarterly event called Blackout Tuesday where they bring the startup ecosystem together to focus on conversations around diversity.
Website: https://localglobe.vc/
8. Octopus Ventures
Octopus is another example of a more well-known fund, but what you might not know is how willing their investors are to support diverse founders. They have multiple arms to invest in different verticals, from Web3 to healthtech, at most stages (but mainly seed-Series A).
Website: https://octopusventures.com/
9. NoLabel Ventures
NoLabel is a super new fund that focuses on non-UK and non-EU immigrant founders, backing incredible talent from abroad, who want to register in Europe. They support across verticals, and can even help founders with visas if needed. They just started so they are open to making great new investments too.
Website: https://nolabel.ventures/
10. Playfair Capital
Playfair is yet another example of a well-known fund, what you might not know about is their desire to look at diversity. They run a female-founder office hours opportunity, and regularly discuss what is important in the space.
Website: https://playfaircapital.com/
11. Unconventional Ventures
Unconventional is a Nordics-based VC firm investing in underrepresented founders throughout Europe. They recently announced a second raise and everyone on their portfolio has a diverse founding team, as well as really getting to know the team and the mission behind the business. As impact investors, they also care about the impact their portfolio has on the world and look at their investments through this important lens too.
Website: https://www.unconventional.vc/
12. Blackseed Ventures
Blackseed Ventures is intended by its co-founders to be the “family and friends” round for black founders that might not be able to raise from family and friends. They invest 200k into early-stage black-founded startups from their headquarters in Brixton, where they operate a space their portfolio will also be able to use.
Website: https://www.blackseed.ventures/
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