Good morning, Broadsheet readers! New Balance partners with the WNBA, Microsoft lays off an entire DEI team, and Arian Simone of Fearless Fund keeps advocating for diversity in business—even as some of Silicon Valley takes a stance on the other side. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
– Still fearless. The floodgates have opened, and the corner of Silicon Valley that supports former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election is becoming more vocal. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the founders of elite venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz are the latest, announcing yesterday that they personally plan to donate millions to organizations supporting the Trump campaign.
They object to the Biden administration’s policies around regulation of tech, especially a proposed tax on unrealized capital gains. Others have cited the antitrust efforts of the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission chair, Lina Khan, as a reason for their support of Trump.
So it’s an interesting and potentially discouraging time for the slice of the VC world that doesn’t support Trump. It’s a topic that came up onstage at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech in Park City, Utah yesterday with Arian Simone, founding partner of Fearless Fund, the VC firm that has been targeted by an anti-affirmative action lawsuit brought by conservative legal activist Edward Blum.
From the audience, I asked Simone how it feels for her to see her colleagues in venture capital align themselves with the movement that has gone after her firm. “We are clearly caught up in somebody’s political agenda,” she acknowledges. She’s realistic about the role of the financial services industry—one that persists through whatever administration is in office. But she’s frustrated by VCs and tech industry leaders who seemingly have opposed diversity.
“Anybody who has a stance against diversity…Yes, that is concerning,” she says. “[Diversity is] just good business. If you’re choosing not to support diversity, it’s alarming because are you trying to signal that your desire of oppression and suppression is greater than a desire to make money?”
Fearless Fund recently lost on appeal the preliminary injunction filed against the fund, which blocks the firm from administering a grant program for Black women founders. The firm has committed to continuing operations and investing amid the lawsuit, but it’s been challenging. “We had closings falling apart left and right,” Simone says. Other LPs stayed committed to the fund, she says.
Simone says she’ll continue to advocate for diversity in business no matter who occupies the White House. “We’re even petitioning the current administration, the current president and vice president, to definitely step up and [issue] executive orders. We’re asking for one to protect the rights to fund marginalized communities…Whoever was in office, we’d be asking them to do this.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Business first. A DEI team leader at Microsoft described diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as “no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020” in an email to employees after their internal DEI team was laid off recently. A Microsoft spokesperson told the publication that “our D&I commitments remain unchanged.”Business Insider
- Charged up. Itselectric cofounder and COO Tiya Gordon says that $6.5 million in new funding from Uber and Failup Ventures will help the EV charger company “scale at rapid speed.” The Brooklyn-based manufacturer of public EV chargers uses electricity from neighboring buildings instead of the grid.Fortune
- A job on the line. Agility Robotics CEO Peggy Johnson told Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference this week that the company’s flagship robot is working its first job on the conveyor belt at a Spanx factory. The recently appointed CEO said there are more than 1 million open warehouse jobs that the robots could fill.Fortune
- In the game. New Balance announced that it signed a deal to become an official partner of the WNBA on Tuesday and produce broadcast content with rookie Cameron Brink and her team, the Los Angeles Sparks. New Balance originally partnered with Brink last year and now joins other league partners including Adidas and Nike.CNBC
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
- Tala, a financial management app designed for users without access to traditional financial tools, hired Damier Xandrine as its new chief legal officer. Xandrine previously held positions at Wells Fargo, Silicon Valley Bank, and continues to serve as board chair of Black Girls Code.
ON MY RADAR
Who is Usha Vance, the wife of Trump’s running mate? CNN
Daughter-in-Law and Party Chief: Lara Trump’s dual roles New York Times
Astor’s ‘community’ approach to financial advice aims to help women feel more confident about investingTechCrunch
PARTING WORDS
“I think every woman going through a divorce should get to have Rihanna say to her that she’s a bad b---h.”
— Natalie Portman on the kind words from Rihanna that gave her a post-divorce pick-me-up
Correction: Damier Xandrine was incorrectly referred to as the first chief legal officer of Tala in a previous issue of this newsletter. She was also incorrectly referred to as board chair of Girls Who Code. She serves as board chair of Black Girls Code.
