Diversity at VC-Backed Startups
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Presented by CDW in collaboration with World Business Chicago, our latest Startup Diversity Report provides a clearer picture of how opportunities to launch startups and secure VC funding are distributed based on race, ethnicity, and gender.
When examining founder demographics of new venture-backed companies (founded between 2018-23) in Chicago and nine other U.S. cities, we observe that...
Chicago is #1 for women founders
36.5% of new venture-backed companies in Chicago had at least one woman founder, the highest rate of gender representation of any city included in this report.
Chicago is #2 for founders of color
24.4% of new venture-backed companies in Chicago had at least one founder of color, the second highest rate of any other city behind Miami (25.6%) and ahead of Atlanta (23.8%).
Chicago is #1 for Latine-founded companies
27.6% of VC funding raised by new venture-backed companies in Chicago went to Latine-founded companies – a higher percentage than any other city ahead of New York (25.2%) and Miami (19.2%).
Thank you to World Business Chicago for their collaboration on this report and to CDW, whose financial support makes this work possible.
See below for previous years’ reports analyzing startup diversity.
Diversity at VC Firms
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The latest data was collected in late 2022 to early 2023. The dataset includes 884 employees from 116 Chicago VC firms that have made at least one venture investment within the last year. These firms include venture funds that are $5M+, family offices, angel investment networks and a handful of other investors that do venture deals.
GENDER DIVERSITY
Representation of women increased to 34.73% in 2022 (up from 33.85% in 2021) — a 2.59% YOY increase.
Overall by Gender
RACIAL & ETHNIC DIVERSITY
Between 2021-22, we observed increases in the share of Black/African American (6.10% to 7.69%) and Asian (10.12% to 11.54%) employees at Chicago VC firms. The share of Hispanic/Latino employees decreased slightly over this period (4.28% to 4.19%).
Overall by Race & Ethnicity
“In 2022, men accounted for 65% of employees at Chicago VC firms. 75% of all employees are White.”
Executive Leadership:
Men continue to hold the majority (75%) of Executive Level roles. This represents a decrease from 79% in 2021.
Executive Roles by Gender
The number of White professionals in Executive Roles decreased decreased to 81.74% in 2022 (from 82.86% in 2021). Non-White professionals occupied 18.26% of all Executive Roles in 2022, which is a slight increase.
Executive Roles, Race & Ethnicity
FIRST TIME FUNDS:
In 2022, women made up a slight majority (50.75%) of employees at First Time Funds in Chicago.
First Time Funds by Gender
First Time Funds had greater representation of Black/African American (29.85%) and Asian (13.43%) employees in 2021 compared to all funds. Hispanic/Latino professionals made up 5.97% of FTF employees in 2022, which is a decrease from 2021.
First Time Funds, Race & Ethnicity
See below for previous years’ reports analyzing diversity at VC firms.