Black founders raised a smaller portion of early-stage venture capital in 2023 than they did in 2021 or 2022.
The percentages here are quite small, so the numbers can be noisy.
But the overall pattern is stark. 2023 was the lowest share of fundraising for Black founders in our Carta dataset since 2020. The declines were consistent across pre-priced, Seed, and Series A rounds.
There are likely a whole host of reasons for these dispiriting numbers. One underreported thesis is that as VCs sought to reduce risk in the venture downturn of the last year or two, they funded repeat founders to an even larger degree than in prior timeframes.
And Black founders are less represented among repeat founders (who would have had to found their companies in a less diverse VC ecosystem) than they are among founders as a whole.
Just one thread, of course. Lots more data on how venture funding broke down along gender, race, and ethnicity in our Carta Equity Report - link in graphic or just type in "Carta Equity Report" into Google.
Work to be done!
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