About

All Raise started as a call to action. Today, it’s a community, a movement, and a rallying cry centered on the belief that our personal ambitions can and will include the prosperity of all women.

Timeline

Public revelations of harassment, bias, and exclusion rock the tech industry.

An email sparked a movement among a group of female partners in VC.

Aileen Lee: “Guessing we all have the same feelings...the stuff about the gender power dynamic and lack of women in VC is just not OK. We have a window to come up with changes. Could we get together to brainstorm constructive ways to improve our industry faster?” The response is amazing. Within 48 hours, almost every person agrees to assist. The sentiment is consistent, constructive, and optimistic.

Female Founder Office Hours launches.

Female Founder Office Hours creates a safe space for female founders to get fundraising advice and support through one-on-one mentorship and community events. Founders start connecting with each other and investors through gatherings in SF, NYC, and LA.

Female founders and funders start volunteering their time and meeting regularly on nights and weekends.

The grassroots movement grows to more than a dozen working groups. Every small team is designed to rapidly ship initiatives aligned with our vision, mission, and shared goals. All Raise is now active in the SF Bay Area and NYC.

Over 400 Founders For Change band together to publicly pressure the venture capital industry to diversify its ranks.

“Spurred on by the #MeToo movement and fed up after several Silicon Valley scandals last year revealed how investors had abused their power with female start-up founders, these entrepreneurs have become impatient for change in the industry.” New York Times | “Hundreds of Start-Ups Tell Investors: Diversify, or Keep Your Money”

All Raise launches publicly on the cover of Forbes Magazine.

“The women of All Raise are confident that their investing success will speak for itself in a sector driven by financial return. To win, they're doing it together—a new mentality for women who have, up until the launch of All Raise, largely succeeded alone.” Forbes | “Venture Catalysts: The 36 Women Secretly Breaking Up Silicon Valley’s Old Boys' Club”

VC Champions mentorship program begins.

VC Champions, the first major All Raise program that includes male allies, matches the next generation of investors with partners at top VC firms for mentorship. Fortune | “All Raise Will Match Underrepresented Investors With Big-Name VCs”

For the first time in history, over 400 women venture capitalists from across the country come together for All Raise’s inaugural conference, the Women Who Venture Summit.

Women at all stages of their careers in VC make valuable connections with each other and learn from inspirational keynote speakers like Sally Yates and Angela Duckworth.

Pam Kostka joins All Raise as CEO.

“There was something so special every time I interviewed and came in for the job at All Raise. I just felt this kind of warm embrace that left me thinking, ‘Where have you all been my entire life?’ I would attend all these meetings and just walk away with this feeling like if you had been in my career, I would have felt way less lonely, way less alone. And I would have had this network of people to go ask questions, get advice from and who could have helped me in my career.” —Pam in TechCrunch | “Scaling a nonprofit, startup style”

All Raise celebrates its first anniversary.

A few highlights from our first year:

Since All Raise first launched, the total representation of female partners jumped from 9% to 11%.
We completed 1000+ mentoring sessions for female founders through Female Founder Office Hours.
1000+ founders joined the Founders for Change movement, giving voice to their commitment to diversity within their teams, boards, and cap tables.
1300+ candidates across the US receive our VC jobs newsletter and we share about 20 jobs per month.

Know The Numbers, Change The Numbers

We are grounded in reality and measurable outcomes. By harnessing data, we identify the challenges we face and keep ourselves and the industry focused on meaningful change.

Women remain deeply underrepresented in venture capital.

14.3%

of decision-makers* at U.S. VC firms are women.**

(Firms With ＞$25M Assets Under Management; excludes healthcare firms and corporate VCs)

*partners, GPs, and MDs with check-writing abilities **Source: All Raise analysis of Crunchbase data, as of June 2021

Female representation at the partner level across fund size is consistently low*

*All Raise analysis of Crunchbase data, as of December 2020

Micro ($25–100M)

13%

52 Women
Small ($101–250M)

12%

48
Medium ($251–550M)

13%

49
Large ($551–1600M)

12%

40
Mega (＞$1600M)

15%

83

Around 35% of female partners are in micro and small firms.

64%

of U.S. VC firms DO NOT HAVE ANY FEMALE PARTNERS.*

(firms with ＞$25M assets under management; excludes healthcare firms and corporate VCs)

*Source: All Raise analysis of Crunchbase data, as of December 2020

26%

U.S. firms with at least  one female partner.
10%

U.S. firms with two or more female partners.

Female-founded companies receive far less venture investment.

14%

OF U.S. VC funds go to teams with AT LEAST ONE female founder.*

*Source: PitchBook, as of December 2020

For women of color the stats are even worse. In 2018 and 2019:

.32%

Funds went to Latinx women-led startups.
.27%

Funds went to black women-led startups.

(STATISTICS VIA DIGITALUNDIVIDED’S PROJECTDIANE 2018)