Y Combinator Releases Data On Black, Latinx And Woman Founders

Y Combinator today released three new lists on Black-, Latinx– and women-founded portfolio companies as a part of its startup directory designed to allow investors to seek out and invest in these companies. 

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“Today, we’re launching three new directory sections. In the aftermath of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, we’ve had many discussions within our community about how we can better support historically underrepresented founders,” Geoff Ralston, president at Y Combinator, wrote in a blog post. 

Founders of Y Combinator companies are self-reporting this data. Over time, more companies will be added, but as of Sept. 21, 2020, the overall stats are as follows: 

• YC’s Black-founded companies have a combined valuation of $2.08 billion and raised $483 million (101 companies, 64 U.S. based).
• YC’s Latinx-founded companies have a combined valuation of $13.5 billion and raised $3.9 billion (153 companies, 67 U.S. based)
• YC companies founded by women have a combined valuation of $8.03 billion and raised $2.2 billion (256 companies, 202 U.S. based)

These findings reflect Y Combinator’s investments across the globe. Companies in the top 100 listed in Y Combinators directory include Quero Education, Rappi, Brex, Faire and Grin that are Latinx founded. Gingko Bioworks, PlanGrid, Lever and Front are founded by women. Embark Trucks, Twitch and Flutterwave have Black founders. 

Crunchbase adds Diversity Spotlight tags

Crunchbase recently launched Diversity Spotlight tagging for companies with underrepresented founders. The goal is to provide a single solution for the tech industry to source and fund companies with underrepresented founders. This data in Crunchbase is for U.S. headquartered companies to start. 

Y Combinator summer 2020 batch

Y Combinator launched its first program in 2005 with 10 companies. It has since hosted 31 batches over the past 16 years, with its most recent 2020 batch this summer hosting 198 companies virtually. 

The founder demographics for the most recent summer batch, according to YC, are as follows:

• Women founders: 16 percent of the companies have a woman as a founder; 9 percent of the founders are women.
• Black founders: 6 percent of the companies have a Black founder; 4 percent of the founders are Black.
• Latinx founders: 10 percent of the companies have a Latinx founder; 10 percent of the founders are Latinx.

Will other investors follow suit on disclosing these numbers? You can see Diversity Spotlight tags added to U.S.-headquartered Y Combinator companies here.

Illustration: Dom Guzman