MILWAUKEE, Jan. 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital
Midwest Fund (CMF), a Milwaukee-based venture capital firm,
announced today its commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
(DEI).
CMF will proactively invest in female founders and racially
diverse founders, and plans to focus on the equity component that
is often overlooked in DEI strategies. As part of the initiative,
CMF is developing a framework to both guide the process and measure
its impact. CMF will also work with its portfolio companies to
develop DEI initiatives at the company level as well.
CMF's commitment to DEI is further reinforced by CMF itself
being minority-led. Two of the three partners of CMF's recently
announced fourth fund, Alvin
Vitangcol and Michael Harper,
are minorities.
"We have unintentionally done a reasonable job with DEI
historically, at least compared to the industry benchmarks, but a
more intentional DEI strategy will provide more opportunities for
female and minority founders, while we maintain our core investment
criteria, which has led to success in past investments," said CMF
Partner Alvin Vitangcol.
Historically, CMF, across its first three funds, has 13% of its
investments in female-founded/female-led companies, and 24% of its
investments in minority-founded/minority-led companies. This
compares with U.S. startup benchmarking, based on 2018-2019 data
provided by Diversity VC in its "Diversity in U.S. Startups"
report, of 11% female-founded/female-led companies and 28%
minority-founded/minority-founded companies.
"We believe our reinvigorated commitment to female and minority
providers will help further break down barriers that prevent
diverse-led companies from raising capital," said CMF Partner
Michael Harper. "We also plan to serve as an advocate to our fellow
venture capital investors."
About Capital Midwest Fund
Capital Midwest Fund is a venture capital firm investing in
revenue-stage companies that provide customer-centric,
problem-solving, business-to-business technology solutions,
including software, services, and products. CMF focuses on
companies where management: (1) has a fundamental understanding of
trending technology themes; (2) has applied that understanding in a
practical way to solve specific customer problems; and (3) has
shown traction in garnering market acceptance.
CMF recently announced the initial closing of its fourth fund,
Capital Midwest Fund IV, L.P. (CMF IV), effective as of
November 5, 2021. To date, CMF IV has
received capital commitments in excess of $41 million. CMF IV is targeting $100 million of aggregate capital
commitments.
https://www.capitalmidwest.com
Contact:
Michael S.
Harper
Capital Midwest Fund
mharper@capitalmidwest.com
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SOURCE Capital Midwest Fund