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Female-led BBG Ventures closes $60M fund to back diverse founders

BBG Ventures founders
Picture credits: BBG Ventures

New York-based female-led VC firm BBG Ventures has closed a second $60 million fund, reported Fortune. It raised the capital from institutional investors, including the State of Michigan Retirement Services and Illumen Capital.

This announcement coincides with the recent VC investments, including a new $350M fund by Chemistry VC and a £51M fintech fund by Outward VC.

Launched exclusively to back female founders, the company is now gearing up to back entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds. 

How is it useful? 

Founders from diverse backgrounds have taken a hit amid the funding downturn in venture capital. In the first half of 2024, Black-founded US startups received $228 million in funding, which is less than 1% of the nearly $79 billion that went into these startups, claims Crunchbase. Besides this, big firms like Goldman Sachs have ended programs that back female-founded companies, and women-only founding teams still receive just 3% of the total funding. 

This is where BBG Ventures’ latest fund will be helpful as it intends to back diverse founders in any way, be it gender, race, age, and more. 

Female-led VC firm

BBG Ventures was founded in 2014 by Nisha Dua and Susan Lyne, the partners who teamed up at AOL to create a $10 million fund. Later, they closed a $50 million fund. 

“We are still going to be investing in women in a big way,” said co-founder at BBG Ventures, Susan Lyne. “If anything we believe the opportunity for founders who look different is bigger than ever. It’s more of a reflection of the world evolving…Gender is not the only difference. Race is not the only difference.”

Portfolio of investments 

BBG Ventures has over $130 million assets under management. To date, the venture capital firm has invested in over 100 companies, including Spring Health, KiwiCo, HopSkipDrive, Zola, Canela Media, Starface, Topline Pro, and Supercircle.

The firm’s portfolio companies serve “Polycultural America,” a term coined by the company to represent the pressing needs of today’s diverse society. 

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