Welcome to our #189 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
In this week’s newsletter, we focus on Fearless Fund’s multi-million dollar follow-on investment from Bank of America, Costco and Mastercard.
In an ecosystem which chronically underestimates and underfunds women and women of colour in particular, the Fearless Fund is making significant strides to redress the balance.
***
And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
Investing in women of colour: Fearless Fund receives multi-million dollar follow-on investment
Institutional investors are backing women of colour entrepreneurs
Fearless Fund recently received a multimillion-dollar follow-on investment from Bank of America, Costco and MasterCard for its second fund, as reported by Techcrunch.
Fearless Fund was launched in 2019 by Arian Simone, Keshia Knight Pulliam and Ayana Parsons, and raised $25.8m for the first fund, whilst the second fund aims to raise at least double that.
The fund invests in early-stage consumer and technology startups founded by women of colour.
In an ecosystem which chronically underestimates…
…and underfunds women and Black founders, women receive 2% in venture capital funding versus 1.2% for Black founders (US).
The data shows that women invest in female founders at 2-3x the rate of men. And if they share a similar background or lived experience to the founder, gender and racial bias is often reduced, if not altogether eliminated.
As per the Fearless Fund’s press release:
Fearless Fund, was created with the mission of increasing the number of Women of Colour-founded businesses and taking those businesses to new heights. Through the past few years, Fearless Fund has created a space that allows the top Women of Colour businesses to thrive in their respective fields. The investments they have received play a tremendous role in the continuation of discovering these businesses as well as providing the opportunity to be educated and their needs be acknowledged.
Moreover, the investments received will allow Fearless Fund to further expand their portfolio of women of colour-founded and co-founded companies and provide adequate funding and mentorship opportunities.
In addition to their investment, Mastercard has continued their partnership with Fearless Fund to host the third annual Fearless Strivers Grant Contest:
awarding Black women small businesses across the country with $20,000 grants,
Mastercard Digital Doors tools,
and mentorship to help Black women founders get access to the capital and resources they need.
The firm will also host its second Fearless VC Summit, with Costco, on August 18 in Atlanta.
And it also plans to partner with lenders to provide debt financing solutions to small businesses led by women of colour.
The social impact of investing in female founders and Black founders..
… is vast because the markets they address have been ignored or marginalised by investors for so long. And these underinvested markets are also underserving their customers.
It follows that the startup valuations for female founders and Black founders are often below market value. Therefore traditional investors can buy in at a discount.
This is despite female founders having a higher return on investment than their male peers. Why? They often have to bootstrap their startup for longer and become better money managers in the process.
Simply put: they do more with less. And generate a higher return on investment
News in Brief
Financial news
The Buffett crash indicator is sounding the alarm again after stocks have soared too much this year. Global stocks are now worth more than the global GDP.
US tech has enjoyed an incredible H1. The Nasdaq 100 is on track for best first half in its 52-year history. Nvidia was the star performer surging more than 180 percent thanks to this year’s buzz around artificial intelligence.
FTSE 100 ends weak H1 with gains but the FTSE 100 has gained just over 1% so far this year, as it missed out on the global stock market rally.
Fed-preferred inflation gauge shows lowest US inflation rate since April 2021. PCE deflator dropped to 3.8% YoY in May from 4.3% in April as expected. Core PCE deflator unexpectedly slowed to 4.6% YoY in May from 4.7% prior.
Eurozone inflation fell more than expected in June as energy prices fell further & food price inflation eased, but Core CPI ticks higher.
Eurozone M2 money growth slows to 0.3%, slowest in history, in a promising sign for inflation.
High interest rates may persist, says Bank of England governor. Andrew Bailey says financial markets expect more rate rises amid continuing high inflation.
UK house prices have defied expectations by growing slightly in June but annual prices fell at the fastest rate since 2009 as soaring mortgage costs took a toll on the market, according to Nationwide building society.
Apple stock hits $3tn market value as new gadget releases loom. Apple shares have gained around 48% so far this year, as it recovered from a rough 2022 in which they fell almost 27%.
AI Boom drives historic $5tn Nasdaq 100 run. Nasdaq 100 gained almost 40% year-to-date, notching its best ever first-half of a year.
The huge Big Tech rally resulted in the Nasdaq 100 now trading at nearly 26 times estimated earnings, above its 10 year average of 21. Apple, Microsoft & Nvidia are notably above their averages, even as they remain below pandemic-era peaks.
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs
The price of bitcoin fell Friday following a report that recent bitcoin filings from big names such as BlackRock and Fidelity have been deemed inadequate in the eyes of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. (Currently trading at $30,500). The spot bitcoin ETF could face significant hurdles.
'Battle-tested' bitcoin could reach $200,000 as top Wall Street names jump in, Fundstrat's Tom Lee says.
The silver to Bitcoin's 'digital gold' is soaring: Litecoin is one of the best-performing cryptocurrencies right now—and just entered the top 10 digital assets by market cap again.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) continues its uptrend that started after its listing on Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Charles Schwab Corp.,-backed EDX Markets on June 20. The BCH token is the highest weekly gainer in the top 300 tokens by market capitalisation on CoinGecko, with 114.3% gains.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has said that he doesn’t like the way U.S. regulators are targeting crypto projects—including his blockchains’s biggest rival, Solana.
Crypto exchange Kraken must provide a wide variety of information about its users to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). According to a Friday court filing, the company will need to produce full documentation for any Kraken user that bought, sold, or traded at least $20,000 worth of cryptocurrency between 2016 and 2020.
Coffee Break? Read This
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and janicka.
The Purse Ltd. Copyright 2023 & All Rights Reserved.
The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial adviser.
Share this post