I have been an ardent anime fan since early childhood, starting with Kimba the White Lion and Speed Racer. As a teenager, I would sacrifice beautiful summer afternoons to stay indoors just so I could catch the latest episode of my favorite serial — for the true nerds among you, it was Star Blazers. So it wasn’t idle curiosity or small talk that recently led two different friends to ask whether I had seen the recent Hollywood reworking of Ghost in the Shell. I have been known to gush over the original Ghost in the Shell serials and films, and so it should have been a foregone conclusion that I would make a point to see any new release. But my friends asked the question because they know I’m no fan of whitewashing. So they weren’t surprised when I told them I don’t plan to see it. While I relish Scarlett Johansson as an action hero, The Major is Japanese. Full stop. It doesn’t help, and sadly isn’t even remarkable, that the Hollywoodification of a brilliant manga-turned-anime franchise also involved removing most of the original’s intelligence (pun intended).
What does this have to do with Reinventure and social impact investing? Everything.
Not just whitewashing. Y-washing, too.
Whitewashing isn’t just a Hollywood failing. It’s ubiquitous in business and finance and beyond, as illustrated in Ed’s most recent Ed Talk: the extraordinary accomplishments of people like Slivy Edmonds, Katherine Goble, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson are routinely overlooked and then forgotten in favor of those made by their white peers.
For people like Slivy, Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary, whitewashing is only part of story. There is also persistent Y-washing: the accomplishments of women, LGBTQ and non-binary-gender people are persistently overlooked in favor of those of (apparently) straight men.
[Yep, we coined the term Y-washing, and please feel free to use it.]
For anyone living in the US who is not a straight white man, this is not news. However, it still comes as a shock to many straight white men who consider themselves enlightened.
That’s why it’s so important that pervasive, selective, artificial invisibility has begun to be documented in objective terms, and why it’s not just ethically but economically vital to recognize, celebrate, and invest behind people who defy the whitewashed and/or Y-washed narrative.
Documentation, please
As we have shared in previous posts (see here, for example), there is a small but growing body of objective research that reveals widespread, persistent, and often unconscious bias favoring straight white men. There have been some noteworthy gauntlets thrown, by people like Kathryn Finney, Natalia Oberti Noguera and others, and there are even memes — the Hasselhof badge, No Thanks Mate, and #TakkaNej, for example — that call out and mock all-male panels in an effort to increase gender parity in professional and public discourse.
Contrary to widespread perception, women consistently outperform their male peers, not only as founders and investors, but in a host of arenas. Recent studies have upended traditional gender perceptions in sectors including finance, business, sales, medicine, academics, crowdfunding, legislation, and even ultra distance swimming.
Despite — and perhaps to some degree because of — the mounting evidence that women are at least as capable as their male peers, women’s success stories are still routinely eclipsed.
Quick, name an industry-changing company founded by a woman. How many came to mind?
Here in Boston, for example, we have the stellar examples of women like Robin Chase / Zipcar, Sheila Marcelo and Donna Levin / care.com, and founder and investor Jean Hammond, just to name a few — not to mention engineering pathbreaker and phenomenal technology and arts patron Brit d’Arbeloff — all of whom are nonetheless far from top of mind, even locally.
Those who are working to expand the body of research, and those in media and academia working to redirect the spotlight to counteract pernicious bias are doing important work. Their work is beginning to bring more women’s successes into popular awareness. However, real change requires more than awareness: it requires flows of capital.
Show me the money*
Fortunately, seed-stage (ideation through launch) resources are increasingly accessible to female founders, through entities like Golden Seeds, Pipeline Angels, Digital Undivided, Backstage Capital, Kapor Capital, Female Founders Fund, Women Founders Network, Women’s Venture Capital Fund, Belle Capital, BBG Ventures, SheEO, and others.
People like Anne Ravanona / Global Invest Her, Suzanne Biegel / Women Effect, Alicia Robb / Next Wave Ventures, and others are working to increase impact and diversity in angel and seed stage investing, while people like Jackie VanderBrug / US Trust, Joy Anderson / Criterion Institute, Linda Scott / Double X Economy, Kathleen McQuiggan / Pax World, Jem Hudson / Breckinridge, and others champion investments that back and benefit women in private and public markets as well.
For those who want to dip a cautious toe in impact-focused angel investing, Sally Boulter / Impact Assets has even created a donor advised fund that enables novice female angels to invest using their philanthropic capital (removing investment risk from the decision).
Please note that the above is only a partial list, not at all comprehensive. There are many more not mentioned here. And related initiatives are being created at a heartening pace. It’s not nearly enough to shift the tide, but access to capital and other resources is improving for women-led companies at the early stage (and in public markets as well).
However, even those women-led companies that manage to secure early stage funding still face a deadly chasm when they reach growth stage. There is vanishingly scant growth-stage capital accessible to women-led companies. Here the expectation that women can’t build businesses of scale threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophecy: companies starved of access to growth capital are not able to grow efficiently, and therefore struggle to reach significant scale — or even survive.
That’s where Reinventure comes in
We’re looking past the misdirection of Y-washing to recognize the mounting evidence that women can build economic engines. Companies of scale that create real value. Profitable, growing companies that matter — to their customers, their employees, their suppliers, their communities, and yes, their investors. Companies that are leading the way out of the old economy and into a new one that is more equitable, more vibrant, and more resilient for everyone.
Reinventure Capital is working to reinvent access to early growth stage capital for innovative young companies led by women and people of color. By capitalizing on the potential of overlooked and undervalued founders, Reinventure investment thesis is designed to deliver both intentional social impact and competitive financial returns, without compromise to either.**
At Reinventure, we’re reinventing investing. We’re proud to be in extraordinary company with others who are also looking past the whitewashing and Y-washing to reinvent the world and create a more equitable future for all. The evidence is in, the ethical and economic imperative is urgent, and the opportunity is ripe.
Please join us.
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*This sampling is offered for information only, and does not constitute investment advice.
**While there’s no such thing as a guarantee in investing and no one can reliably predict the future, Ed’s record at UNC Ventures provides direct evidence that it is indeed possible to consistently invest for both financial returns and social value creation. To learn more, please contact us.