“There are funds of all sizes still being raised, we know that there’s money out there that is still being deployed and raised, but not many of them are led by solo GPs - even fewer are led by women, let alone women of color, or people like us who are women of color and aren’t career venture capitalists,” Harris said. The tech industry is going through a reset, as shown in public market struggles and sector-agnostic layoffs. The timing of the firm’s public launch is notable. “Venture is all about leveraging the unique access that you have.” “Every company that Meena and I have worked for - as startups employees at Facebook, Slack, Dropbox, Uber, Plaid, Quora, AngelList, they are literally all by non-underrepresented founders - our networks very much reflect those companies and the networks we were a part of for so long, to say we’re going to turn that deal flow that surfaces because of the network we’re a part of… I don’t think super makes sense, especially not for fund one,” Min said. The firm has invested in 13 companies so far, nine of which are built by underrepresented founders (although Min said they don’t have any specific diversity mandate or quota). The firm additionally tapped Zabreen Khan as a partner, who started her investment track at Andreessen Horowitz and Lead Edge Capital. The new fund allows Phenomenal Ventures to participate in pre-seed to Series A rounds, averaging check sizes around $100,00 to $500,000. Nearly half of the fund’s investors self-identify as women, and 12% as Black. Around 38% of LPs are founders or former founders. Phenomenal Ventures has already closed a debut early-stage-focused fund totaling $6 million, with investments from firms including 776, Tribe Capital, Slow Ventures, and founders from tech companies including Dropbox, Quora, and Pinterest. “We feel really confident in our ability to succeed, but also wanted to start modestly and just do the work, despite some of the uncertainty around the economy,” she said. The idea for a joint VC firm materialized in 2021, months before the downturn began, Harris explained. The duo met as early employees at Facebook, where they became close friends and eventually tech operators who shared notes on everything from grad school to angel investing. Vice President Kamala Harris, is starting the venture firm with partner Helen Min, a former head of marketing at AngelList, Plaid, and beyond. The entrepreneur, who is the niece of U.S. Now, she wants to invest in those who show that same scrappiness with her next, and literal, venture: Phenomenal Ventures. The lawyer and author grew her side hustle of making activist T-shirts into a behemoth of a brand, Phenomenal, which recently expanded from merchandising to media to entertainment. Image Credits: Maria del Rio(opens in a new window) Meena Harris knows how to build.
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