By Zachery Eanes
The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation and wife of AOL co-founder Steve Case, delivered an address at Duke University’s Sustainable Business & Social Impact Conference on Wednesday. Case pointed out that too often venture capital money has ignored females and minorities and hasn’t looked far enough away from riches of Silicon Valley and New York City.
DURHAM
Venture capitalists have done a great deal of good for the American economy over the years, investing in entrepreneurial companies that have transformed society. But one area where they have underperformed is in diversity.
That was the message Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation and wife of AOL co-founder Steve Case, delivered at Duke University’s Sustainable Business & Social Impact Conference on Wednesday.
She told the crowd, which was made up of students, faculty and business leaders, that too often venture capital money has ignored females and minorities and hasn’t looked far enough away from riches of Silicon Valley and New York City.
In 2016 alone, $69.1 billion was invested in more than 7,700 venture-backed companies in the U.S., but more than 75 percent of that money flowed to companies based in three states: New York, California and Massachusetts, according to the National Venture Capital Association.
That lack of geographic diversity left 47 states to share 25 percent of all funding. North Carolina companies received $765 million of that funding last year, 1.1 percent of all venture capital money.
It was a smaller percentage of the pie for female-backed companies (10 percent of all venture capital funding) and African American-led companies (1 percent).
Case, who started at AOL in the late 1980s, said she didn’t think the lack of diversity was intentional but it was limiting the possibilities of venture capitalism. Her family’s foundation promotes investing in companies that have positive societal impacts and focuses on educating investors.
“We aren’t saying anyone did this on purpose, but we think we have to be intentional about changing this,” Case said. “… We’ve left half the market on the sideline, and isn’t that an exciting opportunity. … Think about all that we can do if we include all sections of America.”
Case, who flew into Durham Wednesday morning, spent the day traveling around the city. She said she visited the downtown tech incubator American Underground, the American Tobacco Campus and projects that Self-Help Credit Union is working on in North-East Central Durham.
The Case family fortune — which is valued at more than $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine — has been active in Durham in the past, and the Bull City is home to three of Steve Case’s investments. He has invested a combined $300,000 in Windsor Circle, Archive Social and Mati Energy — all companies with some connection to American Underground.
Case said she was impressed by the mix of entrepreneurs in the city as well as the organizations here that are willing to invest in areas that will have a positive impact on the city.
“One of the things we really enjoyed that we saw here — which we don’t see in all communities — was not just a focus on economic activity but also on the opportunities that are there for the citizens at the same time, so that the two can work in tandem,” she said.
