Survey: Venture Capital Industry Becoming More Diverse

Arlington, Va. -- Though still dominated by white males, the venture capital industry is slowly shifting toward more diversity, according to a new survey by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Dow Jones VentureWire. Of the 500 VC professionals responding to the survey, 75% were men and 88% were white. Those numbers, however, appear to be on a downward trend, with a growing number of women, minorities and foreign-born nationals choosing venture capital as a career. "We believe the face of venture capital in 2020 will be much different than it is today," said Mark Heesen, president of the NVCA. "While historically, the U.S. venture capital industry has been comprised of a relatively homogeneous group, we see a growing diversity beginning to emerge within the asset class." The complete survey is available at the link below.
http://www.nvca.org/pdf/VentureCensus2008prFINAL.pdf (PDF)