Extra Crunch Tuesday: 8 Black investors discuss the intersection of race, tech and funding

Welcome to Extra Crunch Tuesday

Three percent of all investment partners are Black, and more than 80% of VC firms don’t have a single Black investor. Add in the fact that only 1% of all venture-backed startups have a Black founder, and it becomes clear that diversity and inclusion are largely buzzwords in the tech industry.

Megan Rose Dickey interviewed several Black VCs to gather their perspectives about expanding representation and the role VC can play.

“We are not about diversity for diversity’s sake,” said Lo Toney, founding managing partner at Plexo Capital. “It’s an alpha strategy.”

Here’s who she spoke to:

• Arlan Hamilton, managing partner, Backstage Capital
• Lo Toney, founding managing partner, Plexo Capital
• Sydney Sykes, co-founder, BLCK VC
• Henri Pierre-Jacques, managing partner, Harlem Capital
• Terri Burns, principal, GV
• Brian Brackeen, general partner, Lightship Capital
• Sarah Kunst, managing director, Cleo Capital
• Charles Hudson, managing partner, Precursor Ventures

Thanks very much for reading; have a great week.

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

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Jason Green of Emergence Capital joins Extra Crunch Live on July 9 at 2 pm EDT/11 am PDT

Sponsored by TechCrunch

Bring your questions: Extra Crunch members go to the front of the line!

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