Introducing: Jemison Alexander
I want you to get to know Jemison Alexander. We’re going to be around for a while.
Jemison Alexander invests in early-stage companies with at least one founder who identifies as female. We detail how we’re tactically making these investments – and how you can invest alongside us – here.
In 2021, all-female founding teams raised 2% of venture capital dollars. Mixed founding teams (female-male) raised 16% of those dollars, and all-male teams raised 82%. If you don’t see a problem with this, we’re probably not for you.
Out of the $330 billion in venture capital dollars deployed in 2021, here’s the breakdown of the founding teams to which it went:
Source: An exceptional year for female founders still means a sliver of VC funding (Pitchbook, 2022)
The figures above are only part of the problem. Take a look at the language in the source article. 2021 was characterized as an “exceptional year” for female founders, yet all-female founding teams still raised just 2% of VC dollars. That means on a relative and historical basis, 2% is noteworthy.
Pitchbook does great work aggregating data around the venture capital asset class. But headlines like the source article above - as well as many others like the NYT’s “VC Funding for Start-Ups Founded by Women is Surging” - do more damage than good. We need to start using the right language to describe what female founders are up against, and stop mischaracterizing growth on a relative basis as real progress.
Systemic problems require urgency to solve. Absent near-term sea change, we’ll be having this same conversation in 25 years. As capital allocators and business builders, we need to ask ourselves if we’re ok with that. I’ve decided that I am not.
These funding stats are egregious on a standalone basis. But when you factor in data (see: here, here) around how female founders outperform male founders on nearly every metric, this quickly becomes a glaring strategic miss for the bulk of capital allocators.
Let me be clear. Jemison Alexander is not in the business of charity. Nor are we in the business of funding startups simply because they’re run by female founders.
Jemison Alexander is funding the businesses that have a chance to be talked about in a hundred years - the generational businesses run by the founders who are oftentimes the best person in the world to be building what they’re building.
We’re funding the businesses that we believe will generate both meaningful impact and meaningful returns, and we’ll measure our success by the alpha created relative to the venture capital asset class and broader markets. I have deep conviction that our core thesis will help drive our outperformance.
Jemison Alexander is a story of hope. It’s a story of triumph. It’s a story of diligence and authenticity and uncompromising pursuit of what could be. The founders that we back lead by these examples, and I feel incredibly proud that we get to be a small part of their stories.
We’ll back 100 early-stage startups over the next three years, targeting 15 in ‘23, 30 in ‘24, and 55 in ‘25. We’ll also double down on our winners by taking our pro rata in future funding rounds as they grow.
We're building the world in which we want to see our kids grow. A world where they're free to be curious and dream and experiment and feel. A world where, no matter what they look like, all kids can point to heroes that look like them. A world where their stories are celebrated. A world where the only thing holding them back from their dreams is how far they're willing to reach.
I hope you’ll join us.
Jemison Alexander invests in early-stage startups with at least one founder who identifies as female. You can learn more at www.jemisonalexander.com.
If you fit our investment criteria and would like to pitch us, email General Partner Ryan Perlowin directly: ryan@jemisonalexander.com
If you’d like to advise our portfolio companies or invest alongside us in future deals, apply here to join The Squad. Our SPVs are typically $250k-$500k and minimum angel checks to join the SPV are typically $5k. Note that only accredited investors can invest.