The Fearless Fund says it will not retreat just one year after settling a high-profile lawsuit that accused the Atlanta-based venture capital firm of discriminatory grant practices. Instead, the firm is expanding its mission globally and launching a new initiative aimed at influencing policy as well as investment.
On Sept. 28, Fearless Fund hosted its first major event since the case came to a close, unveiling what the organization calls the Fearless Global Initiative. Approximately 150 attendees gathered in New York, including U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Liberian Foreign Affairs Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“I knew that it wasn’t just as simple as having a fund. It was literally, we’re going to have to get policies to change,” Founder and CEO Arian Simone told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Simone framed the expansion as necessary in an era where many organizations are retreating from diversity, equity, and inclusion work.
Now, the company is moving forward with the Fearless Global Initiative. The initiative prioritizes “demographic equity,” a concept that would align funding, contracts, and investment flows more closely with population demographics.
Demographic equity means “the demographics of the people must match the demographics of the contracts, the investing and the funding allocations,” the Fearless founder said.
“This is (as) good for the white Kentucky coal miner as it is the Latino California farmworker. Demographic equity means delivering the resources, the financial support at a scale that reflects the population. This is something we can all get behind.”
Fearless Fund was sued in 2023 by the conservative group American Alliance of Equal Rights over a small-business grant contest that favored women of color. The plaintiffs alleged the program unfairly excluded non-Black applicants. The firm and its nonprofit arm settled the suit last year. The company no longer offers that specific grant funding.
The firm continues its core investment work, and since the lawsuit, it has maintained support for its portfolio companies, as well as a small business loan program launched last year. Still, Simone acknowledges that the legal battle forced restraint as it delayed raising a second venture fund.
Additionally, the company experienced a drop in corporate sponsors. Before the lawsuit, the firm typically had 20 major corporate backers in a given year. This year, it secured three: UPS, JPMorgan Chase, and Costco.
The ordeal has been “hell” according to Simone, but the founder also stressed that the firm remains committed.
“Just because we decided to be audacious and cut million-dollar checks to Black women, it caused a serious disruption in this country,” Simone said.
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