Suggested by WO Wendy Overton over 3 years ago
There's been a significant increase in the number of emerging funds, particularly those targeting diverse founders (such as female or BIPOC founders).
While there are a number of programs developed to support the emerging fund managers to help them launch their funds successfully (including this program), these emerging funds are too small to hire staff to support offering platform* services to their portfolio companies.
Thus,
* "platform" as used in this Unmet Need is referring to the portfolio of services that a VC fund offers its portfolio companies, including creating a strong founder peer community, providing mentorship & training opportunities, making key introductions for founders, providing PR support, and providing discounted resources that reduce the administrative overhead for a startup, among other possible services.
The increase in number of these smaller, emerging funds is a growing trend that is in response to the historical disparity in funding for female, BIPOC, and other historically marginalized founders.
Providing cost-effective platform services to these founders is the next logical step to support these diverse founders' success.
Are you interested in addressing this Unmet Need?