Friday, March 9, 2018

Upfront Ventures Proposes New Inclusion Clause In Term Sheets

Los Angeles-based venture capital investor Upfront Ventures said this week that it is including a new clause in its term sheets to companies, which asks them to formally require that a woman, or a "member of a population currently underrepresented within the company" be interviewed any time there is an open executive position at the startup. According to Upfront's Mark Suster, the VC firm has open sourced the legal language it has been inserting into its term sheets, in hopes that other venture capital firms will also adopt those requirements in their own investment offers. Upfront's Suster said the firm has a "deep-seated commitment to equality" in funding & building diverse teams across all ethnicities, nationalities and genders, because the firm believe it's the right thing to do, and also because the firm believes it will help drive large and differentiated returns. Upfront has several, high visibility startups run by typically underrepresented groups, with very recent investments in Convoz, a social app startup started by rapper Chamillionaire (who also has been an Upfront EIR); Skylar Body, run by female entrepeneur Cat Chen; and HopskipDrive, led by Joanna McFarland, among others.