Valor was founded in 2015 with the purpose of top returns for investors and the mission of making venture capital more inclusive. Our mission and purpose strengthen each other–the more we focus on inclusion, the stronger our opportunity for returns, as so many studies show.
Valor embraces a core truth many investors fail to live by — that inclusion is a risk factor controllable by investors.
Since we started 5 years ago, and two funds later, we’ve encapsulated our investing approach into a philosophy we created call the Inclusion Premium.
Valor’s Inclusion Premium Investment Philosophy
Inclusion is a financial performance risk factor. Diverse management teams and boards are associated in numerous studies with 15-35% financial outperformance. Since inclusion is controllable and influenceable by investors, it is a critical fiduciary responsibility for private equity and venture capital fund managers. Valor processes accelerate and support inclusion at sourcing, at time of investment, and through investment management and disposition. Seed stage is the most dynamic and influential time to implement best practices around inclusion. This is where Valor invests.
Across Valor’s portfolio, 70% is led by underrepresented founders, making Valor one of the most inclusive investors in venture capital.
Our numbers are in line with the study’s conclusions as well. While it’s too early to harvest our portfolio, last year across the entire portfolio we saw an average of 31% revenue growth.
We use scalable funnels to attract founders outside of our networks, including creating our own events like Startup Runway, our own networks like the Signature Family Office and Foundation series or our Innovation Council, and digital marketing, including our Atlanta Startup Podcast and this blog. We believe great founders are often outsiders, and their outsider’s eyes see valuable insights.
In Fund 1, we invested in over a dozen strong companies on the forefronts of their industries, like Funding U, SmartCommerce, MapMyCustomers, and Drum. Three years later, taking learned from Fund 1, we launched Fund 2 — an even more refined distillation of that original thesis, focusing on seed-stage Southeast startups driving financial outperformance.
Inclusive investment processes
Our diligence process has a “green thread” of inclusion running through-out. We’ve been called out in prestigious publications from Forbes to our local Atlanta Business Chronicle for catalyzing inclusion.
Valor hosts events for the inclusive innovation ecosystem where we discuss these trends and how they impact financial outperformance, whether you are building a start-up or investing your wealth. I hope you’ll join us on this rewarding path. See you out there, trailblazer!