Venture Access Alliance

The Venture Access Alliance is a coalition of startup investors who believe NYC’s diversity is its greatest strength and opportunity for growth. Alliance members work together with NYCEDC to achieve diversity throughout the startup value chain and build the world’s best, most inclusive tech and venture ecosystem in NYC.

The Alliance is part of Venture Access NYC, an NYCEDC initiative to build a more diverse and equitable tech ecosystem in NYC for startup founders and funders. The Alliance is co-chaired by Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures and Jarrid Tingle of Harlem Capital Partners and is supported by the Ford Foundation and Annenberg Foundation.

The Alliance is centered around:

• Building Community: The Alliance provides a collaborative forum for NYC’s VC firms and industry partners to connect, co-invest, share insights, and promote greater access within the venture industry.
• Tracking Diversity: The Alliance tracks and reports on VC industry trends, diversity among NYC investors and portfolio companies, and best practices and benchmarks to create a more equitable venture landscape. The 2023 report, Diversity in Venture Capital, established a baseline understanding of the state of diversity in NYC’s venture community. The 2024 report, Building an Inclusive Tech and Venture Ecosystem for NYC’s Future, highlights diversity among Alliance firms and program accomplishments to date.
• Committing to Action: The Alliance empowers investors to work together on high-impact initiatives that expand access and inclusion within the innovation economy, and position NYC as the global leader for equitable tech and venture capital activity.

Benefits of Membership Include:

• Leadership: Alliance members play a key role in building the best, most inclusive tech and venture ecosystem in the world.
• Access: Alliance members gain access to diverse talent pools, deal flow, and leverage best practices from industry peers.
• Visibility: Alliance members leverage visibility of their diversity-focused efforts and thought leadership across media and press opportunities.

The Alliance is inspired by successful public-private initiatives like PledgeLA, an initiative launched by the Annenberg Foundation and the City of Los Angeles. Since launching in 2023, the Alliance membership has grown to over 100 venture capital firms, collectively overseeing more than $23.5 billion in assets under management. Alliance member firms encompass a broad range of investment teams, from emerging and medium-sized funds to large and established firms. Notably, over 70 percent of Alliance firms have diverse or female leadership, and nearly 40 percent of Alliance portfolio companies have diverse or female founders, far outpacing national diversity averages of venture-backed startups. Further, the Alliance has contributed to the collection of critical VC data and insights, including through the 2023 inaugural report, Diversity in Venture Capital: Challenges and Opportunities for NYC, and the 2024 report, Venture Access NYC: Building an Inclusive Tech and Venture Ecosystem for NYC’s Future.

Meet the Alliance Members