Reporter's view: Kiki founder support erodes Blackbird's diversity commitment
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Reporter's view: Startup and VC correspondent Bronwen Clune writes: "No sooner had we hit send on Sweat Equity, which looked at the issue of female funding in the ecosystem, than Blackbird put their response to the Kiki controversy up on LinkedIn.
"In a blog post, Blackbird general partner Samantha Wong — who is incredibly well-regarded in the community — provided some clarity on the saga, and acknowledged the impact it had on how the community perceives Blackbird’s support of female founders.
"My Sweat Equity newsletter was not directed at Blackbird at all, but rather Australian VCs as a whole. I think the challenge for VCs is that whatever work is being done to support more women is also being largely eroded by ongoing bad behaviour. Kiki was a classic example of that.
"While VCs still uphold startups that obviously disregard female experience and expertise, like Kiki did, it’s hard to be convinced that it’s an industry worth entering for women.
"Wong wrote that she hoped her post added 'some context to this discussion' and that Blackbird was doing right by its founder and diversity in the startup community.
"The issue is that in this case, what looked like public support for the founders (the silence said a lot) was at odds with their commitment to diversity, and when given the choice, they chose to stand behind the male founders."
Blackbird defends Kiki investment
The news: Blackbird has clarified that when it came to backing controversial New Zealand startup Kiki, it “did not back a women’s club,” and reiterated its commitment to funding female founders.
The numbers: At the time of Blackbird’s investment it took 16% of EasyRent (now Kiki) which was then focussed on sub-letting and based in Sydney. It later moved to New York.
The context: Kiki made media headlines when it announced about four weeks ago that it was no longer in the business of 'sub-letting' in New York and would focus on becoming a club for girls to “thrive not live”. Capital Brief broke the news that they had let investors know of the change, and had described their target market as “corporate girlies”.
In a video on Instagram, timed with a blog post from Blackbird, Kiki CEO Toby Thomas-Smith apologised for causing offence with the announcement. Blackbird general partner Samantha Wong, who led the investment, wrote a blog post clarifying the VCs position on Kiki, and reconfirming Blackbird’s commitment to female founders.
What they said: “Since Blackbird started deploying our 2022 core fund, we have invested in 22 companies, and 23% of these have at least one woman founder,” Wong wrote.
“While this is broadly in line with industry standards, it’s nowhere near where we want it to be. We are committed to continuing to provide transparent reporting about our progress, acknowledging that we need to do better.
“We run a series of strategies to address diversity at all stages of the investment funnel, as set out in this blog. From programs for discovering the next woman-led startup, to strategies we use in our investment decision-making processes to try to eliminate unconscious bias and setting concrete OKRs [objectives and key results] for the team, we are doing the work.
"There is much more work to do, and we’re committed to doing it."
The source: Blackbird blog post
