Backstage Capital, the venture firm focused on funding underrepresented minorities, recently acquired The Door for an undisclosed amount in cash and equity. The acquisition makes quite some sense given The Door’s similar focus on helping underrepresented founders get funding. The platform specifically connects those founders to investors.
As part of the acquisition, The Door Founder Yves Louis-Jacques will join Backstage Capital as a venture partner. In his role, he will also be in charge of The Door’s product development and initiatives with limited partners.
“I am intrigued by the idea of using technology to answer two of the most frequently asked questions I’ve heard while building Backstage Capital,” Backstage Capital Founder and Managing Partner Arlan Hamilton told TechCrunch.
Those two questions are:
- Is there enough quality deal flow from underrepresented founders?
- Once you find it, how do you make investment decisions that help you achieve alpha?
“The Door is elegant technology that puts those answers at our fingertips,” Hamilton said. “I’m also impressed by the amount of respect Yves has garnered among investors of all stripes.”
Through Backstage Capital, Hamilton leads investments in startups founded by underrepresented people in tech, including people of color and LGBTQ people. Backstage Capital’s limited partners include people like Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield, Pathbrite former CEO and founder Heather Hiles and Box CEO Aaron Levie.
Backstage Capital closed its first $5 million fund at the end of last year, which included everything from a mobile app that take pictures and turns them into nail art (NailSnaps) to a woman working on a drone that can stop bullets mid-air (Astral AR)
Backstage Capital’s second fund is about 80 percent raised and is looking to close it this month. To date, Backstage Capital has funded 54 companies.