Less than 1% of all professionals working in venture capital today identify as LatinX, and only 1.2% of LatinX founders had access to or received VC funding in the last year. However, there are several leaders in the finance and tech communities actively working to change that.
In this episode, Malcolm Ethridge sits down with Cheryl Campos, Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic and co-founder of VCFamilia, to discuss how her organizations and ones like them are working to level the playing field in tech and increase the levels of LatinX representation in venture capital.
Cheryl Campos discusses:
- Why opening up venture capital to other communities will not only diversify the startup funding landscape, but also lead to more diverse products being launched and brought to market
- How Republic has supported over 600 underestimated founders by helping them find access to funding
- The work that her organization, VC Familia is doing to create a community and a sense of belonging for Latinx professionals in venture capital
- How other venture capital firms can get involved to help make sure that more diverse professionals are finding career opportunities in technology and finance
- And more
Resources:
Connect With Cheryl Campos:
- Cheryl Campos Website
- Twitter: Cheryl Campos
- Twitter: VCFamilia
- LinkedIn: Cheryl Campos
- LinkedIn: VCFamilia
- LinkedIn: Republic
Connect With Malcolm Ethridge:
- The Tech Money Podcast
- LinkedIn: Malcolm Ethridge
- Connect with Malcolm
- @MalcolmOnMoney
About Our Guest:
Cheryl is passionate about the intersection of finance, technology, and social impact. She is the Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic, a one-stop-shop for founders to raise capital from both accredited and non-accredited investors. She is focused on introducing underrepresented founders to both traditional and alternative funding sources in order to help their startups thrive. In other direct investing roles, she is a scout for Lightspeed and an investment partner at The Community Fund. Cheryl is also one of the founders of VCFamilia, a community of Latinx VCs supporting current & emerging investors through collaboration.
Previously she worked as an analyst in a Connecticut-based private debt & equity firm with an emphasis on minority and women entrepreneurs. She started her career in Investment Banking at Barclays, working in the Financial Institutions Group and Structured Finance. She holds a BA in Economics with honors from Harvard University.
