New Valley Labs reposted this
Chasing Rainbows Fund I, is officially closing capital commitments this Wednesday - March 5, 2025. If you are there wondering why am I publicly announcing this? I am doing so, because honestly, I want you to understand what I'm going through, as I close off this venture fund. I started Chasing Rainbows, because I saw an opportunity for an LGBTQ+ focused VC fund. As an investor, things like education background (be that college attended or graduation from specific VC accelerators), gender and even racial identities are often used to form an investment thesis. However, there have been limited examples of any VC fund specifically focusing LGTBQ+ founders. On top of differentiation (something important when competing for deal-flow and cap table access), I saw this as an opportunity for equality. Time and time again I was hearing from LGTBQ+ identifying founders they were being openly discriminated against by VC for being themselves. Don't get me wrong - not all founders are investible. But let me ask you, if an investor (both VC and angels) chooses not to invest in a founder because of their personal religious or political beliefs - are they really trying to get the best returns? This becomes particularly apparent when founders are asked to remove any evidence of their LGBTQ+ identity (such as scrubbing their social media and never mentioning their family/partners etc) in order to receive investment. How do I know this sort of investor behaviour exists? Not only have I've heard stories from countless founders, I've also experienced it myself, first hand. When numerous data sources (Proud Ventures, StartOut, Pitchbook, Crunchbase etc) have reported LGBTQ+ founder performance metrics against their peers - the results show they outperform. Yet capital deployed into these founders is not equally distributed due to not meeting 'thesis requirements'. Founders who operate on have limited budgets - are resourceful. But in order to scale access - accessing capital is required. Chasing Rainbows offered founders an opportunity to receive a small check from a VC fund who looked beyond their LGBTQ+ identity. What those small checks led to, was an opportunity to then be seen by the wider VC market. Beyond capital, founders are supported with practical advice focus on what makes them investible by other VCs. This is our real value-add; and has been validated by the fact established VCs have converted 7 of the 16 portfolio companies from SAFE to priced equity. I'm doing one last public call out for any potential investors (or donations if investing isn't an option). This is not me begging for you to invest in my fund. This is a statement that due to the current conservative government limitings our our ability to operate future funds are not possible. But more importantly, they are erasing the identity of those we invest in, which includes myself. If you want to learn more, please email me: ben@chasingrainbows.vc or call this number: +1 415 465 0233.