Latinx Leaders Issue Joint Statement On VC Funding Report

VCFamilia signed on in response to the WIRED article, “Latino Founders Have a Hard Time Raising Money From VCs”

Even though U.S. investments in Latin American startups rose 320%, U.S.-based Latinx founders were completely overlooked as they received significantly less funding than the year prior, despite record-breaking venture funding in 2021. Early stage funding — the most critical in any startup’s journey — decreased from 1.5% (2020) to 1.2% (2021), making it more difficult for Latinx founders to keep their businesses alive during the pandemic.

Despite this decrease in capital, Latinx entrepreneurs generate an outsized contribution to the growth of American businesses. Our community has been responsible for approximately 50% of net new small business growth over the past decade (The State of Latino Entrepreneurship Report 2021) and is projected to account for 78% of the net increase in the U.S labor force from 2020–2030 (U.S. Dept of Labor).

If today’s Latinx founders received funding comparable to their non-Latinx counterparts, their companies could generate $1.4 trillion in additional revenue today and $3.3 trillion in additional revenue by 2030 (SLEI ’21…