Tech Startup Funding To The Black And Latino Community Scores In Miami After Investor Influx

The technology industry has long been criticized for overlooking Black and Latino founders, but it seems that since George Floyd’s death some companies and investors have taken action.

Black and Hispanic tech startup funding ticked up in Florida and Georgia this year, following an influx of investors jumping on the bandwagon of supporting diverse communities.

Data from Crunchbase compiled for Reuters showed startups with a Black or Hispanic founder got 3.5% of the record $311 billion U.S. venture funding in the year to Dec. 16, up from an average of 2.5% in the previous five years.

Florida and Georgia were the only states with a significant deal flow that showed an increase in deals for Black and Latino companies.

Such deals rose to 41 from 35 in Florida and 23 from 21 in Georgia. In addition, deals to minority founders in Florida were 4.5% of the total $6.9 billion of funding, up from 2.5% in the previous five years.

Deals to minority founders in Georgia made up 13.7% of $3.2 billion of funding, up from 5.3% in the previous five years.

“The numbers are broken. The numbers are an order of magnitude away from where they should be,” said Paul Judge, managing partner at Panoramic Ventures in Atlanta, which focuses on investments in startups by minority founders. “But they do have movement based on a more diverse city, to begin with.”

According to Reuters, the rise of remote work during the pandemic led several Silicon Valley venture capitalists to escape California, with its wildfires and high taxes. Instead, Miami, with a large Latino population, and Atlanta, with a large Black population, have both seen higher interest.