Less than 1% of biotech VCs are Black
The biotech industry has a long way to go when it comes to racial diversity, as a recent BIO analysis made clear. But in venture capital, an insular, old-boy-laden corner of the business, the disparities are staggering.
Jackie Grant, a VC at Abingworth, ran the numbers, looking at the senior and junior ranks of 25 top venture firms. The results, published in Nature Biotechnology: 0% Hispanic, 0% indigenous, and less than 1% Black.
That’s in part a function of how VC works, Grant writes. There’s very little turnover, especially among partners. And when a position does open up, it tends to be filled by someone within the peer group of the power brokers — someone who tends to be white and male.
“Although I appreciate the sentiment behind #blacklivesmatter statements posted by venture firms, it is nowhere near enough,” Grant writes. “Firms cannot proclaim their commitments to racial diversity when the composition of their investment teams and portfolio companies tells a different story.”
Jackie Grant, a VC at Abingworth, ran the numbers, looking at the senior and junior ranks of 25 top venture firms. The results, published in Nature Biotechnology: 0% Hispanic, 0% indigenous, and less than 1% Black.
That’s in part a function of how VC works, Grant writes. There’s very little turnover, especially among partners. And when a position does open up, it tends to be filled by someone within the peer group of the power brokers — someone who tends to be white and male.
“Although I appreciate the sentiment behind #blacklivesmatter statements posted by venture firms, it is nowhere near enough,” Grant writes. “Firms cannot proclaim their commitments to racial diversity when the composition of their investment teams and portfolio companies tells a different story.”
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