9 Best Female-Focused Funds

Founding teams that include men and women produce dramatically stronger valuation growth than all-male founding teams, according to research from First Round Capital. But startups withgender-diverseteams win just 18 percent of the venture capital pie.

The following funds are trying to change that. All have a stated mandate to invest in female founders. At present, there are fewer than 100 such funds in the United States; in aggregate, they likely have less than a billion dollars to invest. But given that women CEOs get only 2.7 percent of the approximately $80 billion in venture capital each year—or about $2 billion—that could be enough to begin to make a difference. These nine funds should be on every female founder’s radar, but stay tuned for the debut of our complete list of female-focused funds on inc.com. —KIMBERLY WEISUL

Backstage Capital

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.

In May, when Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton announced the formation of a $36 million fund to invest in black women, she was surprised at the reaction. “They’re calling it a diversity fund,” she tweeted. “I’m calling it an IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME fund.” That new fund is her second; her first is investing $5 million. Hamilton has now invested $4 million of that in 100 entrepreneurs who are women, people of color, and/or members of the LGBTQ community—including the founders of Tinsel, BeVisible, Blendoor, and Uncharted Power.

BBG Ventures

NEW YORK CITY