Today the ILPA announced our participation in its Diversity in Action initiative, an organization that shares our commitment to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the private equity and venture capital industries. The goal of the initiative is to motivate market participants to engage in the journey towards becoming more diverse and inclusive and to build momentum around the adoption of specific actions that advance DEI over time.
ARTIS is proud to have both a diverse team and a diverse range of founders in our portfolio companies, but we know there's always room to do better, and are working hard to continue to grow.
GPs and LPs who join the Diversity in Action initiative commit to specific actions that advance diversity and inclusion, both within their organization and the industry more broadly. Diversity in Action signatories commit to undertaking four essential DEI actions and at least two additional actions from an optional set. The Diversity in Action framework includes a broad range of actions that span talent management, investment management and industry engagement.
We believe diversity of experience is a valuable asset to all our portfolio companies, giving them perspective to make better informed decisions about their products, business, and hiring strategies. We at ARTIS are proud to share that more than 60% of our founders from AV3 are women, people of color, and from the LGBTQ+ community.
In our office
While our team includes many women, people of color, and people from the LGBTQ+ community in leadership positions, like so many in 2020 we took a hard look at how we could be doing more.
Extending knowledge and support is also the key to our Healthcare Pioneers program, which includes some of the most successful people in health and biotech. These industry veterans act as mentors and advisors to our portfolio companies, providing insight from many different points of view. And this year we announced our Fellows Program, a group of nine diverse, up-and-coming, health and biotech experts hailing from across the globe with technical expertise in computational biology, synthetic biology, microbiome engineering, immunology, general surgery and more.
In our communities
Inclusion has been important to our team, with many working over the past several years (and arguably the course of their careers) to be a part of the change for people who need representation. Our team has been affiliated with The Trevor Project, helping address mental health in the LGBTQ+ community, and the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), advocating for gender equity and the advancement of women in science. Every Mother Counts is also important to us. Others have spent time supporting and mentoring women of all ages, and international founders through Founders Embassy, TechWadi, Canadian Women’s Network, ScholarMatch, Every Mother Counts, and Girls Inc., as well as passionately promoting early STEM education in girls.
The journey toward diversity, equity, and inclusion is really just starting for many, including us. It’s a positive change that we’re glad to be a part of, and we look forward to continuing to learn from our involvement with ILPA. We are committed to funding, mentoring, and supporting brilliant entrepreneurs from all walks of life who are working to make our world a better place.