BBG Ventures Secures $60M To Support Women And Diverse Founders – urbangeekz

New York-based BBG Ventures has raised $60 million to support women and diverse founders.
The venture capital firm, founded in 2014, initially envisioned funding women-led startups. This new fund will expand the firm’s focus to support founders from diverse backgrounds across race, income, and age. 
Speaking on the venture capital firm’s new fundraising and new direction, Co-founder Susan Lyne told Business Insider, “This is not about abandoning women, but expanding our mandate to back a diverse founding team.”

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BBG Ventures Expanding Focus
Founders from diverse backgrounds have taken the biggest hit in the ongoing venture capital funding slump. In the first half of 2024, only $228 million, or about 0.3% of nearly $79 billion that went to U.S.-based startups, was received by Black-founded startups. The dollar total also represents a whopping 60% drop from H1 2023.
Susan Lyne and Nisha Dua teamed up at AOL in 2014 to create a $10 million fund, BBG, to back female founders. They invested early in startups like Spring Health, recently valued at $3.3 billion, PlanetFWD, and toy brand KiwiCo.
When Verizon acquired AOL in 2019, BBG Ventures separated and raised a new $50 million fund. This was the first time it raised capital from institutional investors, including the State of Michigan Retirement Services and Illumen Capital. Investments include genAI startup Topline Pro and skincare company Starface.
Dua said that these limited partners returned to back their newest fund and also increased their commitments. New investors in the fund are Fairview Capital, Pivotal Ventures, California Endowment, and Mizuho. Previous investors such as Nordstrom, Verizon, and Bank of America also invested in the $60 million fund.

BBG Ventures’ Working Investment Thesis
BBG Ventures intends to invest this new fund in high-potential sectors such as healthcare, fintech, and AI. However, Dua cautioned that they were not becoming an AI-focused firm anytime soon, “Some funds are building a portfolio of just AI companies. That’s not us.”
Instead, BBG Ventures is pursuing opportunities where AI can responsibly drive growth. “It’s important for us to be circumspect where AI can drive growth in certain startups,” added Dua. 
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The venture firm has already backed UpWage, an AI recruiting startup for hourly workers. They’ve also invested in Nara, a startup that has created an FDA-approved, certified organic whole milk formula.

BBG Ventures’ decision to move beyond exclusively backing just female founders reflects the duo’s shift in thesis around innovation. “There are underrepresented groups around not just gender but also race, age, and income,” said Dua.
Main Image: From L-R, Nisha Dua and Susan Lyne (Image Credit: MacKenna Lewis for BBG Ventures)

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