Leer en español: 0.32%: la parte del capital de riesgo de EE. UU. que recibieron los fundadores negros
Educational only — not investment, legal or tax advice.
In 2025, startups with a Black founder or co-founder raised about $942 million, according to Crunchbase. That’s 0.32% of all US venture funding. Crunchbase describes it as one of the lowest shares in years, and down more than two-thirds from three years earlier.
The numbers since the peak
| Period | Raised by startups with a Black founder or co-founder | Share of US venture funding |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 (peak year) | $5.2 billion | 1.5% |
| 2025 | about $942 million | 0.32% |
| 2026, to 20 May | $643 million | not reported |
Even in the best year, 2021, after the 2020 racial justice movement, the share was 1.5%.
Why 2026 looks better than it is
The $643 million raised in early 2026 came from just 34 deals. A large part of it was one round: a $350 million Series E for the AI chip company SambaNova, co-founded by Kunle Olukotun. For context, US startups as a whole had raised $252 billion in 2026 by the same point, per Crunchbase.
One big round can lift a small total a lot. That’s why the number of deals often tells you more than the dollar figure.
A note on the data
Crunchbase is clear about the limits. Its data relies on founders being listed and on diversity information being reported, and it says it is likely missing companies, especially at the earliest stages. Recent years also tend to rise as late data comes in. So treat these figures as the best available estimate, not an exact count. Even with those gaps, the direction is clear.
What investors in the space say
Tanvi Lal, co-founder of VC Unleashed and an investor with Intuit Ventures, told Crunchbase the change she would make is to move the conversation from venture firms to their own investors, the pension funds and endowments. If those investors asked about founder demographics “with the same rigor it applies to sector concentration or stage exposure,” she argues, that would shift behaviour more than anything else.
What this means if you’re raising
None of this means you shouldn’t raise. It means you should know the odds and plan around them.
Start investor relationships early. Short, regular updates to a target list of investors, months before you raise, turn cold contacts into people who have watched you deliver. See our investor update template.
Make your traction impossible to ignore. Revenue, retention and growth are the hardest signals to dismiss. Our guide on raising without the network covers how.
Look at who has actually invested. Recent rounds for Black-founded companies in your sector tell you which investors are active, which is better than a generic fund list.
Look beyond traditional VC. Revenue-based financing is based on your revenue, and grants are scored against published criteria. Read when VC is the wrong money for more options.
From the investor’s side of the table
Venture capital likes to describe itself as a meritocracy. Numbers like these say the system still depends heavily on who you already know. As an investor, the most useful thing I can do is look at deals that come from outside my own network. As a founder, the most useful thing you can do is make your numbers so clear that no one needs an introduction to see them.
The short version
Startups with a Black founder or co-founder received 0.32% of US venture funding in 2025, down from a peak of 1.5% in 2021. Know the odds, build relationships early, lead with traction, and use funding options beyond traditional VC.
Sources
Written by Fabian Cisneros. Educational only — not investment, legal or tax advice. See the full disclaimer.
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