Tuesday, October 23, 2018

LA Investors, Startups Launch PledgeLA, Effort Around Diversity, Inclusion

Los Angeles investors and startups, in conjunction with Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Annenberg Foundation, announced a new effort, PledgeLA, to help address the "work opportunity gap" in the industry by increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion in their firms and investments. The group said that the new effort includes more than 80 venture capitalists and technology leaders in Los Angeles. The new effort revolves around both diversity within the organization, as well as "civic engagement", and involves the use of a third-party evaluator which will collect and analyze information on how investors and businesses are doing to address those issues. The effort is being driven by a very long list of investors in Los Angeles, although the group says that around 20 companies have signed on to be involved; PledgeLA says it expects to expand to other tech entrepreneurs and CEOs/foudners of LA-based tech companies in Q1 of 2019. The new effort was incubated and seeded by the Annenberg Foundation, based on its existing program, AnnenbergTech. The group says it is being supported by philanthropists including the Weingart Foundation.