The founder and managing partner of a venture capital firm announced a multi-million-dollar fund that will invest Black female entrepreneurs, Blackbusiness.org reports.

Arlan Hamilton, who runs Backstage Capital a firm that invests in people of color, women and members of the LGBTQ community, made the announcement on Twitter on Saturday.

“The rumors are true. Today at [the summit] I announced that my venture capital firm has launched a $36m fund that will invest in Black women founders $1mill at a time,” she wrote.

Hamilton, who is a part of the LGBTQ community and was once homeless, believes that funding founders in underrepresented groups only strengthens the field.

“Investing money, time, resources, access, belief – all of that – into Black people, Latinx people, all people of color, and women in the US is not something that should be looked at as doing us a favor. It is doing you a favor if you are a white male, because we are the future,” she said in an interview with Quartz in February.

Backtage Capital, which was founded in 2015 to address funding inequalities in the tech space, has already invested over $4 million in over 80 companies led by those in underrepresented groups.

Only 15% of venture capital funding went to female leaders in 2017, according to Blackbusiness.org.

arlan hamilton
black women
venture capital