The Underestimated - Issue 09
The Diversity X newsletter showcasing the underestimated founders making a positive impact in the world and keeping you up to date on the Diversity X journey.
What is coming up in this issue?
👏🏾 Diversity X Team and Fund Update
📖 You is a racist, prejudiced, bigot!
🌱 Community Update
📰 Monthly update on what has been going on with Diversity X
🤝 🔦Spotlight on a Diversity X Founders’ Community member
📆Upcoming events and plans
💥💥DX Team and Fund Update 🚀🚀
Diversity X is now an Appointed Representative of Frank Investments Limited, a firm which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. And Kevin is an Appointed Person. But what does this all mean?
It means that we are doing what we advocate others to do, stopping the talk and doing the walk…which translates into WE ARE LAUNCHING A FUND in order to take our support for Underestimated Founders® to the next level.
The Diversity X EIS Fund (“Fund”) is now open to sophisticated investors, high-net-worth individuals, and institutional investors, and will close its first tranche by March 2023. This first close is targeted at £1 million, with a further potential close for this EIS tranche at £1.5 million.
The Fund will only invest in underestimated founders® from within the Diversity X Founders’ Community. Venture Capital is long recognised as having a systemic diversity problem, adversely impacting returns and missing exceptional businesses and hyper-scalable markets. Diversity X is the home of the Underestimated Founder®. This means driving growth across their entire portfolio rather than narrowing their focus on fewer bets, in turn encouraging higher overall returns. To ensure that the diversity issue with venture capital is being addressed at the fund level, Kevin has committed that 10% of the Fund will be for investors from underrepresented investor backgrounds to be able to invest with smaller ticket sizes. We exist to make a change. We exist to play in the blind spot of traditional VC, and tap into the value and positive change that underestimated founders® can bring to the world. Solving the world's problems is not the privilege of the few; it is the opportunity to contribute for the many. Let's embrace this!
We hope you will join us on this journey. Email Kevin at kevin@diversityx.vc for further information.
Special note - when we thought about launching a fund, we wanted to build it with those who can empathise or genuinely understand the plight of the underestimated founder. So it feels special that our relationship partner at Frank Investments is a woman (Amy), our relationship partner at Woodside (fund custodians) is a woman (Anna), and our relationship partner and lead lawyer is a woman (Dona), also supported by a black male lawyer (Omar) (who is the first black lawyer is have ever worked with on a project in my 20 years as a lawyer).
You is a racist, prejudiced, bigot!
OK, I have been waiting to write this issue since 7th October. Something has been eating away at me from the inside and I have wanted to talk about it. It relates to learnings I got from Diversity X partner, Marquis, and some of the women founders who joined our “A Week in Review” call.
So what is eating away at me? Anger!
What do get if you add a high Black man to a tattoo on the neck and put him at a conference? If you are a white, male, Patagonia-wearing VC, you may well be answering “a drug-dealing former convict”. Oh, “and my new drug dealer”.
WRONG!
For those of us, not this way inclined, we probably would have thought that Marquis, who was at the Sifted conference, was a delegate like you or me, and would not be asking him whether he’s been in prison or if he sold drugs. My message to you to those that did ask him those things: “Back the f*** away and go check yourself you racists, prejudiced, bigot!”.
That Black man with a tattoo on his neck is a venture capitalist who goes beyond the call of duty to support underestimated founders® in building their businesses and creating opportunities for them to access capital.
In addition to Marquis’ experiences, a number of the women founders who joined the call shared their stories. I’m shocked that this still goes on. Even with the #MeToo in the backdrop, some feel they can get away with the sexist, toxic behaviour towards women founders (and women in general). I want to see these Weinsteins outted. I know the women founders feel they couldn’t share the investors’ identity, so, I will look at how we can create a solution to help call this out in a way which protects the female founders who step out and lean in to help those that will come after them.
Please take a moment to read this post from Diversity X Founders’ Community member, Hattie Willis who shared this post - it is what we call essential reading because it helps refocus Diversity X to double down our efforts to support underestimated founders®.
If you are an underestimated founder who has experienced anything like what we have shared here, then please email us your story. And join our community, which starts off as your safe place.
Community Update
Not a huge amount to report this month. It has been slow to increase community numbers, but we are open to new members joining this free community. In fact, we have ambitions to have 500 members by the end of the year and (whisper it) 1000 by next June.
On October 8th, the community will celebrate its first birthday. It has been a great first year - so many wonderful stories shared, the support given, and even tears shed.
If you would like to join this diverse group of startups and scale-ups led by brilliant, unique underestimated founders®, contact us at admin@diversityx.vc
News from the Diversity X journey
Highlights over the last month:
💥 We are still transitioning our Founders’ Community to a new home, hosted on the Heartbeat platform. At the last newsletter we had 164 founders on our Heartbeat platform. This now stands at 256 with a massive influx. Lets keep going. Can we get to 500 by New Year’s Day?
💥 427 views of issue 8 (up 1 from issue 7) and 257 subscribers (to date, up 19 from issue 7).
💥 Progress is being made on the work around the Diversity X Founders University - we will share more next month as we look to open applications for our first cohort - how exciting!
💥 Thank you to everyone who has supported the journey so far.
Meet the Underestimated
Lucy Hall, Jen Charon, and Jade McSorley - LOANHOOD
The Co-Founders:
Lucy, CEO, has 16 years of experience in management, within the fashion and hospitality industry.
Jen, the CCO is a visionary and creative lead within LOANHOOD. Her expertise and over 19 years of experience as a graphic designer and brand builder.
Jade, a fashion model and expert in sustainability and innovation within fashion. Graduating with a 1st in MA Fashion Futures at the London College of Fashion, she is currently undergoing her PhD on fashion’s digital transformation.
The Startup:
LOANHOOD, is the fashion rental marketplace for the next generation. They are changing the way fashion is done from the ground up, starting with the clothes already in our wardrobes. A new way of fashion is emerging that is more circular, accessible, affordable and kinder to the planet. No brainer right?
What can you do to support LOANHOOD? Well, they are crowdfunding via Seedrs - find out more here.
Upcoming Events
Every Friday - A Week in Review call
We are planning our holiday event - so stay tuned.
And that’s a wrap for this month….
Reach out with any questions to admin@diversityx.vc
INVESTORS - let’s chat - contact Kevin (kevin@diversityx.vc). CAPITAL AT RISK
Underestimated founders® - come join a community that is a welcoming and safe space.
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Diversity X Ltd is an Appointed Representative (firm reference number (“FRN”) 985756) of Frank Investments Limited, a firm which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) in the United Kingdom, FRN 627697. Diversity X Ltd is a private limited company registered in England and Wales, registered number 13474151 with registered office, Heritage House, Newton Road, Sudbury, England, CO10 2RL. Diversity X Ltd is an Appointed Representative of Frank Investments Limited, a firm which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
This document is intended for professional investors only; any reproduction of this information, in whole, or part, is prohibited. The content is for information purposes only and should not be used or considered as an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell the securities mentioned herein. Diversity X EIS Fund (the ‘Fund’) is defined as a ‘Non-Readily Realisable Security (‘NPPR’) and the promotion of NPPRs either within the UK or from the UK is severely restricted. Consequently, this document is only directed at professional clients and eligible counterparties as defined by the FCA and also to persons of a kind to whom NPPRs may lawfully be promoted by an authorised person by virtue of COBS 4.7.
WARNING - CAPITAL AT RISK