In the venture capital (VC) and startup ecosystem, investors and entrepreneurs rely heavily on data to evaluate trends, make decisions, and track performance. Demographic data (on who is funding and who is being funded) has only recently been introduced to the ecosystem, but already shows a pronounced - and persistent - underrepresentation and underfunding of women, people of color, those without a college degree, and the LGBTQ+, disabled, and veteran communities. And while demographic data is readily available in some cases, it is far from complete: intersectional information remains limited, as does consistent analysis and tracking of investment and startup demographic trends. A lack of coordination and standardization across the industry only exacerbates this problem.
In early 2023, seven organizations across the ecosystem got together to explore the idea of combining our data efforts to move from siloed, incomplete information to build the largest, most comprehensive, and most intersectional data set on diversity in VC and startups. By standardizing our data and linking it together, we could uncover some yet-to-be-seen connections between funders and founders and see trends across communities. Further, we would make it easier and less time consuming for our constituents to fill out surveys from multiple places.
We spent most of 2023 defining and standardizing how we collect demographic data, using our unique expertise to create a common framework. We're now ready to share that framework with the world - as well as the next steps for the Alliance and DEI in VC and startups.
For the Diversity Data Alliance, this effort is just the beginning; there are many more data points to standardize, and a universe of intersectional and interconnected data to analyze and action as a result. Our group will continue to work on standardization of other key data points in VC and startups, including (but of course not limited to) topics like work experience, tenure, titles, promotions, funding, and returns.
Our goal is to eventually share our datasets with each other (safely and securely) and provide regular insights to the industry on a host of short- and long-term trends related to diversity in VC and startups. We recognize that this is no small undertaking, and may not fully come to fruition for some time; however, we are working diligently to move the conversation forward. Keep an eye on this site for regular updates, including new standards and recommendations, and updates on our path to building the most comprehensive diversity data set in the industry.
We look forward to leveraging our learnings and our collective power to create a more equitable and inclusive venture capital and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Founding Members
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Want to be a part of the Alliance?
All you need to do is update your future data collection forms to reflect the standard survey language we’ve included in our paper below. We’ll provide more information in the coming months on how we might all potentially start aggregating the data from everyone; make sure to check back here.
If you have historical data, we also suggest mapping your old data sets to the new standard format.
