13:00, 19 March 2021
Words by Smiley Team, Staff Writer, London
To support diversity in business, Goldman Sachs, announced yesterday that it will invest an additional $500 million in enterprises led by women, Latinx, Black and minority ethnic entrepreneurs. This doubles its original commitment to a total of $1 billion.
“Through our work with Launch With GS, we saw that the pipeline of opportunities to back diverse-led companies and funds was both broad and deep, exceeding our expectations,” said David Solomon, chairman and CEO of the leading financial institution.
“Our initial investments, and our continuing engagement with entrepreneurs in our ecosystem, have compelled us to double our commitment, less than three years in. As we’ve said from the beginning, investing behind diversity is good business.”
Since the role it played in the 2008 financial crisis, the bank appears to want to give back to the communities impacted by the catastrophe. Leading up to the crisis, it sold bonds backed by risky mortgages, for which it paid a settlement of $5.06bn. Among the worst-hit by the economic fallout and now worst-hit by the pandemic, minority communities will now receive business support from the bank.
In June 2018, the bank created Launch With GS, which started as a $500 million commitment. The initiative is based on evidence that showed diverse leadership teams perform better.
“Our initial investments, and our continuing engagement with entrepreneurs in our ecosystem, have compelled us to double our commitment, less than three years in. As we’ve said from the beginning, investing behind diversity is good business,” explained Solomon.
Since its launch, the institution has already invested $450 million in diverse companies and managers.
“Our investment thesis that investing in diverse teams generates positive investment outcomes is embedded across our businesses and will continue to be a cornerstone of our approach,” said Suzanne Gauron, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and head of Launch With GS. “The strong pipeline of entrepreneurs and managers we’ve met with so far has us even more excited about investing the next $500 million in 2021 and beyond.”
The first recipients include BentoBox, Billie, Burst Oral Care, and LeaseQuery as well as funds such as Construct Capital, Define Ventures, and MaC Venture Capital.
The bank’s Launch With GS Black and Latinx Entrepreneur Cohort is accepting applications for 2021. The six-week programme provides access and resources to a selection of US-based Black and Latinx founders to successfully grow their companies and build relationships with investors and industry experts.
Join Launch With GS here.
