DAMI Supports Calls to Attorneys General to Investigate Venture Capital Firms Which Appear Not To Invest in Women or African Americans

Washington, D.C. — Earlier this week, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) asked Attorneys General (AGs) of Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia to investigate and take action against venture capital funds within their states that appear not to fund women or Black led businesses.

Robert Raben, executive director and founder of the Diverse Asset Managers Initiative (DAMI) -- an effort to bolster racial and gender representation in the asset managers industry -- issued the following statement in response:

“Finally a response to the awful Fearless Fund and Hello Alice. We’ve long asked the question that if, as some extremists believe, you can’t explicitly recognize race or gender in investing, how more than 90 percent of managed money is with white men?  Asset management has never been colorblind, to its detriment, and Edward Blum and the American Alliance for Equal Rights’ attacks are built on nasty quicksand. If you can’t curate with a race or gender lens to ensure the full range of talent and performance, then a lot of white men are going to have to explain themselves in court because that's what they have been doing forever.”

“If some conservative extremists insist we cannot take talented women and people of color into consideration because race and gender are inappropriate markers for contracting, then we’ve never understood why there is no scrutiny of venture capital firms that only invest in all-white or all-male companies.”

“We appreciate the SPLC for drawing this obvious problem to the attention of regulators and look forward to their investigation into whether venture capitalists are only funding men or white people.”