Closing the Funding Gap: Increasing Access to Venture Capital for Latino/a Entrepreneurs

Did you know that Latinos are over-indexing in the tech sector, with 19% of Latino-owned businesses in tech compared to 14% of White-owned businesses, yet they receive less than 2% of VC funding? Despite these challenges, Latino-owned businesses are outperforming their counterparts in revenue growth and the adoption of artificial intelligence.

Join us for a dynamic panel discussion on venture capital for Latino/a founders that will explore how organizations can help bridge the gap to equity investors and support one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurial communities in the United States.

This session will feature insights from the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), a nationally recognized leader in Latino entrepreneurship. LBAN, a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit, partners with Stanford Graduate School of Business to research and empower Latino entrepreneurs across the U.S. through programs like LBAN’s Startup Accelerator at Stanford and LBAN’s Business Scaling Program at Stanford, designed specifically for Latina and Latino founders.

Attendees will: 

• Discover how organizations can support underrepresented founders to have more access to equity investors, ensuring a more inclusive and equitable distribution of venture capital.
• Hear directly from capital providers and entrepreneurs sharing their journeys and offering practical advice on overcoming challenges and achieving success in securing VC funding.
• Learn how capital providers, ecosystem builders, and other stakeholders can engage with and support this rapidly growing community, unlocking opportunities for over 5 million Latino-owned businesses across the country.